A Summer of Demons, Myths, and Sunshine
by saving juliet
Summary: After Sirius is cleared of all charges he moves to America and Harry Ron & Hermione go to visit. They meet an interesting woman and her friends who challenge their beliefs, and show them a new world. Buffy Harry Potter X-over.
1. AN

Title: A Summer of Demons, Myths, and Sunshine

Rating: PG-13

Summary: When Sirius moves to America, after being cleared of all charges, Harry, Ron, and Hermione go and stay with him for their summer holidays. When they arrive they meet and interesting women and her gang of friends, who challenge their beliefs, and throw all their lives into chaos. Buffy and Harry Potter X-over, with characters from Angel the series popping in.

Pairings: all will be revealed.

HP: Set after OOTP, except Sirius isn't dead. Everything else happened though.

BTVS: Seta year after Season six of Buffy. Season 7 never happened. Tara isn't dead,but Willow did go evil. Xander and Anya are married. Spike didn't try to rape Buffy and they are just friends (for now). Faith is living with the Summers.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Harry Potter. Buffy belongs to the amazing genius Joss Whedon, and Harry Potter belongs to another amazing genius, J.K. Rowling.

AN: This is my first fanfic ever, so please, please review. Comments, Questions, Constructive Criticism, Kudos, anything really are welcome. Also, if you have any ideas for the story, tell me and I'll try to put them in.

~saving juliet


	2. Chapter 1: A Big Metal Box

Chapter One: A Big Metal Box

"Harry, wake up!" Hermione whispered. Harry grunted and blearily opened his eyes.

"What?", he grumbled.

"We're landing soon," Hermione said poking, Ron. Ron woke up and looked around in shock.

"What's going on?" he yelled. "Have we been kidnapped?"

Harry laughed, as Hermione suppressed a sigh.

"We're on a plane Ronald, going to see Sirius. Remember?" she said, sounding exasperated.

"Oh, right," Ron said. "Why did you wake me up?"

"Because the plane is landing soon," Hermione answered rolling her eyes.

"So we get to be back on non moving ground then?" Ron asked.

"Yes Ron," Hermione responded, looking very annoyed with Ron's stupidity.

Harry laughed again. It had been very hard to convince Ron and the Weasleys that planes weren't dangerous.

In the battle at the Ministry all of them had barely escaped with their lives, including Sirius. A couple of good things had come out of the fight however. For one, the Ministry had been forced to admit that Voldermort had returned. Also, Peter Pettigrew had been captured, tried, and given a life sentence in Azkaban, while Sirius had been cleared of all charges.

Exhilarated with his new found freedom Sirius had moved to California. In America. The order had been shocked, but Dumbeldore didn't mind (actually he was rather amused), so the rest if the Order didn't say anything. At the beginning of the school holidays Sirius had invited Harry, Ron, and Hermione to stay with him for the vacation. The Trio were originally going to take a Portkey to Sirius's, but Dumbeldore had decided it wad too dangerous. This was because Sirius's house was in a place of mystical energy, which caused portkeys to go wonky, and dump the people it was carrying in the middle of nowhere. Since none of them could apparate, and it was too far to fly on a broomstick or Thestral, the only option left was Muggle transportation. Airplanes

The Dursleys hadn't given any inclination that they cared (Harry suspected they hoped the plane would crash), and Mr. and Mrs. Granger, being Muggles had no problem with it. Mr. Weasley was delighted at Ron flying on a Muggle invention and had asked Ron to give him full details when Ron landed. Mrs. Weasley however highly objected to her youngest son traveling on "a idiotic, dangerous, Muggle contraption." Ron had also been rather scared about it. Finally Harry, Hermione, Dumbeldore, and Mr. Weasley, had been able to convince Mrs. Weasley,Ron, and the rest of the Weasleys, that Ron really would been fine and not die a horrible death on the plane.

On the second week of the school holidays Harry, Ron and Hermione were dropped of at Heathrow Airport in London, having said goodbye to everyone. Ron had been fascinated by everything from the metal detectors and moving walkways to the Muggle sweets and magazines.

It had been really entertaining to watch Ron, Harry thought, as the plane made its incredibly bumpy landing. By the time they got off, Ron was looking positively green. They got their bags of the baggage claim which delighted Ron, who tried to walk on the carousel before being yelled at a security guard, causing Harry to burst into loud guffaws, and Hermione to mutter "boys", and pull Ron of the baggage claim. As they walked toward the greeting area, Harry saw Muggles being met by their families. Harry panicked, not seeing his godfather, until Hermione nudged him pointing towards a sign, which Harry realized read, **Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger** in Sirius's messy scrawl. The Trio reached the sign, and the person behind the sign lowered it. An unrecognizable man grinned at them.  
"Hello you three," he said smiling.

"Sirius?" Harry asked.


	3. Chapter 2: yowling suitcases

**A/N:** Scooby gang will either appear in 3rd or 4th chapter. Please review. I do not own Buffy or Harry Potter. Lots of fluff in this chapter

Chapter 2: A red sports car and yowling suitcases

After staring at the man for a few seconds, Harry realized it was Sirius. But he looked more like the picture Harry had of him as his father's best man then Harry had ever seen him before. The fact that he was free had taken about seven years off of him, making him look 30 instead of 37. He was no longer skin and bones, but healthy and muscular. His hair was long and dark, but the biggest difference were his eyes. Sirius's eyes had been haunted with the pain Azkaban had given him. But now the bright blue eyes were sparkling and full of life. In a couple of weeks Sirius had transformed.

"Do I look that different?" Sirius said jokingly, but he looked wary. Wordlessly Harry hugged him, and felt Sirius hug him back in relief. Sirius then slapped Ron on the back, and gave Hermione a one armed hug, leaving both of them rather shocked.

"It's nice to see you again," Hermione said politely.

"It's brilliant to see you lot too. I'm sure you're going to like California. Lets get back to the house," Sirius responded, leading them out of the airport. They walked through a huge parking lot. Harry vaguely wondered how they were going to get back to Sirius's when they stopped beside a shiny red sports car. Sirius took a pair of keys out of his pocket and opened the car.

"Sirius, is this car yours?" Hermione asked.

"Yep," Sirius replied. "Put your luggage in the boot." Harry, Ron, and Hermione obeyed and hauled their suitcases into the back of the car. Three of the suitcases were making rather strange noises. Dumbledore had transfigured Hedwig, Crookshanks, and Pigwidgeon cages (or carriers in Crookshanks case) into suitcases. The "suitcases" had been outfitted for all the animals needs, but from all the jostling and moving the pets were rather put out, so they had resorted to making a horrible cacophony.

"Ah I better undo that," Sirius said, chuckling. He pulled out his wand, muttered something, and three of the six suitcases turned into two flustered, hooting howls into metal cages, and a very unhappy hissing ginger cat into a wicker cat carrier.

After calming down their pets (Hermione got rather badly scratched), Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed into the back black leather seats of the car, and Sirius started driving. Sirius was a fairly decent driver, even though he drove rather fast. On the drive they told Sirius all about the last weeks of term, Fred and George's joke shop, and Mrs. Weasley's rants about airplanes. Sirius in turn told them all about the town he lived in, Sunnydale, and the weird events that occurred there. Apparently it had one of the highest mortality rates in the U.S, and a huge number of cemeteries. Sirius even revealed a little bit about his neighbors.

"Oh they're great people, a lot of fun," he said grinning.

"Are they Muggles,?" Ron asked.

"Yes, but they are a bit...different. There are five of them, all women. I think one of there is your age. You'll meet them soon," Sirius replied, and then refused to say anything else about these Muggles. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged bewildered looks. Sirius's neighbors were Muggles and he was friends was with them? It was going to be a very strange holiday.

After a two hour drive, they arrived at Sirius's house. It was a nice white house, with a porch and a small garden, so different from Number 12, Grimmauld Place that Harry couldn't quite believe it was Sirius's until Sirius went up to the door and unlocked it.  
"Come on in," he yelled. Harry looked at the other two. Ron shrugged, but Hermione nodded, so Harry lugged his suitcase and Hedwig's cage into the house. He could hear Ron and Hermione behind him, bickering about Crookshanks, who had apparently scratched Ron. Inside the Trio looked around, mouths agape, as they took in the clean, neatly furnished living room.

"Honestly you are rather slow," Sirius said from behind them. They jumped and turned around to see him smiling his cheeky grin. "Let me show you your rooms." They walked up the stairs, dragging their luggage behind them. First they saw Hermione's room. It was plain, with a small bookcase, purple curtains and sheets, a dresser, and a desk. There was also a pink cat bed, and a mirror

"Do you like it?" Sirius asked.

Hermione turned around. "It's perfect," she exclaimed. "You even have a cat bed for Crookshanks!"

Sirius laughed. "I do try Hermione. You get unpacked and I'll show these two their rooms." They left Hermione,and walked a short way down the hall. They came to a room, and Sirius opened the door. Harry and Ron's room was bigger than Hermione's. It had two twin beds, a closet, a desk, and two bedside tables. "I figured you two didn't need a bookcase, or a mirror," Sirius said, leaning in the doorway.

"You were right about that," Ron said, plopping down on one of the beds.

"Okay, unpack, and I'll get you something to eat," Sirius said, and he disappeared. Harry watched him go.

"So what do you think?" Ron asked.

"I dunno," Harry replied. "Sirius seems happy."

"Yeah," Ron said. "He does seem really different, doesn't he?"

"Of course he does," said a voice. Ron jumped, and they both turned around to see Hermione in the doorway.  
"Blimey, Hermione," Ron muttered. "Why did you sneak up on us?"

Hermione ignored him, and sat down on Harry's bed. "Well it's obvious isn't it?" she said. Looking at Ron and Harry's blank expressions, she sighed. "He's free, so it has lightened him, and he can finally have a normal life. I mean he's been accused of being a murderer for 15 years, and in hiding for the last two. It must be wonderful to walk around in his human form, and not have people raise the alarm," Hermione explained.

"Hermione, how come you can come up with brilliant observations so quickly?" Ron asked, looking bemused.

Hermione blushed. "I listen and observe Ronald," she said. "Anyway, enough about Sirius. What about these neighbors of his?"

"I expect he'll introduce us them soon enough," Ron answered, shrugging.

"Ron the fact that he's friends with them is very intriguing. I mean how many wizards are friends with Muggles? I wonder what's so different about them," Hermione mused.

"It doesn't really matter," Ron said.

Hermione glared at him. "Well I want to find out what it is. And Harry does too. Don't you Harry?" Hermione said looking at him.

"Um yeah, I guess I do," Harry mumbled. Hermione rolled her eyes. Harry could tell she was about to launch into a speech about it, when Sirius called "Dinner!"

"Finally," Ron said standing up. "I'm starving."

"Do you ever stop thinking with your stomach?" Hermione asked, a look of disdain on her face.

"No," Ron answered, a sheepish grin to his face.

Hermione stared at him. Then she broke into a smile too. They walked downstairs to see Sirius holding too large boxes. The scent coming from the box was delicious.

"Sirius, what's that?" Ron asked cautiously.

"It's pizza, Ron," Sirius replied. "An excellent Muggle food."

"I'll take your word for it," Ron said. They followed Sirius into the kitchen where he handed them plates and paper napkins, and then headed into the living room. In there Sirius plopped down on a purple arm chair. He gestured for the others to sit down, and they did, Hermione and Ron on the couch, Harry on a chair next to Sirius.

"Ron do you want plain cheese or pepperoni?" Sirius inquired.  
"Uhh," Ron muttered.

"I'll give you a piece of each," Sirius said, and put two pieces of pizza on Ron's plate. Sirius gave each of them pizza before grabbing some for himself. They ate in silence, but by the time they were done very little pizza wad left. Hermione had eaten a reasonable amount, Harry and Sirius a bit more, but Ron had eaten a huge amount.

"I like this Muggle food," Ron said, sighing.

"Good now tomorrow I can show you around," Sirius said to the three of them.

"Will we meet you neighbors tomorrow?" Hermione asked.

"Probably not tomorrow." Sirius answered. "But some time soon. Now time for bed." Three pairs of eyes stared at him in shock. "What?" he asked. "I have act a bit responsible or Molly will have my head!" They laughed and Ron and Hermione left the room. Harry made to follow them but Sirius's hand stopped him. "Can I have a word Harry?" Sirius asked.  
"Yeah of course," Harry replied and they walked into the kitchen.

"Harry you know how much I care about you," Sirius said. "But are you sure you want to be here? I mean I'm not the best role model and you could probably be having a lot more fun at the Burrow than with me, even with Ron and Hermione here."

Harry stared at him speechless. "Sirius you're the closest thing to a parent I have. Of course I want to be with you. But you better start acting like the daredevil you, not the responsible you. Cause it's weird." Harry said. Sirius looked at him for a minute then laughed.

"Don't you worry," he said. "There's going to be plenty of recklessness around here. Now off to bed with you. I'll see you in the morning." Sirius clapped Harry on the shoulder.

"Night Sirius," Harry said as he started up the stairs. He saw Sirius raise his hand is acknowledgment, then disappear back into the kitchen. Upstairs Ron was sitting up in bed, waiting for him.

"What did he want?" Ron asked.

"He wanted to know if I was happy to stay with him." Harry answered, changing into his pyjamas.

Ron was silent, then he burst out laughing. "Well maybe he is mental after all." Ron said. Harry grinned as he got into bed. He was with his two best friends and his godfather for the whole summer. Harry was certain this would be his best vacation ever. With this thought in his head Harry fell asleep, listening to Ron's snores.

**A/N:** I love Harry and Sirius moments and I know very cheesy. Coming up next...a led tour of sunnydale in the day time and a forbidden wander at night . Our lovely three misfits of course get into trouble, and the "neighbors" show up to save the day.


	4. Chapter 3: Stakey, Stakey

**A/N:** Here is the chapter where some of the Scoobies appear. Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Chapter 3: Stakey, Stakey,

Harry awoke to sunlight streaming in through the window. Ron was still asleep, snoring in the bed next to him. Harry got up, pulled on a t-shirt and jeans, then headed downstairs to the kitchen. In the kitchen he saw Sirius and Hermione. Hermione was eating toast, and Sirius was leaning up against the counter. They stopped talking when Harry came into the room and smiled at him.

"Morning, Harry," Hermione said.

"Harry where would you like to go today?" Sirius asked. "Hermione has already made her requirements. The Magic Box I believe and the UC Sunnydale library."

"The Magic Box?" Harry asked bewildered. Before Sirius could reply, Hermione started speaking.

"It's a magic shop Harry. It was destroyed last year but then repaired and several of its owners have died there. Sirius says that it also had some amazing magic supplies. And the UC library is said to be huge." Hermione finished. Her eyes were sparkling.

Harry laughed. It was so like Hermione to want to visit a library on the first day.

"The Magic Box sounds good," Harry said. "But I don't know about the library."

"It's not as bad as it sounds," Sirius reassured him. "And while you're here we can go to the beach and of course the Bronze." Responding to Harry and Hermione's confused looks, Sirius said, "It's a nightclub. With food, music, and dancing. All the young people hang out there. I'm sure my neighbors would love to go with you."

At the mention of Sirius's neighbors Hermione brightened considerably. "Well that sounds fun. I sure we'd like it. Right Harry?" she said.

"Um yeah great," Harry responded. Just then Ron came stumbling into the kitchen in his pyjamas.

"What's going on?" he asked, pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

"Hermione's making Sirius drag us to a library," Harry answered.  
Ron looked flabbergasted. "Really Hermione? It's the summer holidays."

Hermione sighed. "Ron it is not that bad, so don't worry. Anyway there might be book there you like," she suggested. Ron stared at her, open mouthed, then shook his head, and began to eat.

Sirius chuckled, "Be ready in an half hour," he ordered. "And Ron get dressed," he finished and left the room. Ron grumbled to himself and kept eating.  
"Hermione," Harry whispered. "Are you ever going to drop this obsession with Sirius's neighbors?

She looked at him. "No, I'm not," she whispered back fiercely. "At least not until I meet them. And don't look at me like that Harry. I know you are curious about them too." With that she left the kitchen and Harry heard her running up the stairs.  
"What did you do?" Ron asked, looking up from his bowl of cereal. Harry shook his head and busied himself getting breakfast.

Half an hour later, the three of them were in the car waiting for Sirius. Harry and Hermione had made up. Hermione was not like other girls Harry thought. She was more rational, not as silly, and she didn't giggle obscenely. Maybe that was a bad thing. Maybe she needed more girlfriends. Harry knew Hermione spent most of her time with Ron and him. Harry mentally shook himself. Now was not the time to be worrying about Hermione's lack of feminine influence.

A minute later Sirius appeared, got into the car and drove. First they visited the library (Harry and Ron had decided to get the worst over first). Harry had to admit it was a nice library. It was huge with stacks of books. Hermione was in heaven. Harry even found some books that were interesting and so did Sirius. Ron complained loudly about how boring the library was until a librarian shushed him. Harry noticed some of the Muggles shooting venomous looks at Ron. After about two hours in the library, they left, Hermione very unwillingly, Ron almost skipping for joy.

Next they went to the Magic Box. It was a very cool shop, with lots of magic books, ingredients for spells and potions, and other magical items. Hermione liked this almost as much as the library. Even Ron found things that interested him. Harry was browsing when he noticed Sirius talking to the blonde women behind the counter. The women Harry noticed was staring at him with blatant curiosity. Seeing Harry staring, Sirius waved him over.

"Harry this is Anya. She owns the Magic Box," Sirius said, as Harry drew closer. Anya waved at him. "Anya this is my godson Harry. Anya's husband is friends with my neighbors." Sirius explained.

"Yes he is and I am too," Anya said. "Although sometimes they are dreadfullyannoying. I do like Buffy and Tara though. And Dawn most the time. Faith still scares me, even if she is supposedly redeemed. But Willow drives me crazy even if she is the most powerful wicc-,"

"Anya," Sirius interrupted. "Wouldn't you like to meet Harry's friends?" Sirius beckoned for Ron and Hermione to come closer.

"But you said one of them is like Xander and one is like Willow. Anyway I thought Harry was the Cho-."

"Ron and Hermione, this is Anya. She owns the Magic Box and she and her husband are friends with my neighbors," Sirius said loudly, interrupting Anya again. "Anya, this is Ron and Hermione, Harry's best friends."

"Oh," Anya said, peering at them. "Well you should introduce them to the rest of the Scoobies soon Sirius. They are desperate to meet them. Although I don't see the big deal. They're not very interesting. Oooo, they're going to be mad when they hear I met them first. Hi, I'm Anya Christina Emmanuella Harris." Anya stuck out her hand and Harry, Ron, and Hermione shook it warily. "And compliments of the Magic box you will all receive a free bottle of Holy Water," Anya said pulling out three glass bottles. Now is there anything you would like to purchase?" In the end Hermione bought a book, and they left the shop. As they left, Anya called out, "Thank you for buying at the Magic Box. Please come again and spend your money!"

They were all laughing by the time they got outside. "Sirius, who is she?" Hermione asked.

"Anya? Oh she's great. A little kooky and very blunt, but she always makes you laugh. And I better introduce to my neighbors soon or Buffy and Willow will cut off my head," Sirius replied. For the rest of the day they drove around Sunnydale, stopping whenever Harry, Ron, or Hermione found a place where they wanted to stop. They had lunch at a fast food restaurant which Ron also loved. Then Sirius took them to the movie theater, where they saw a movie called The Doomed Cheer, an incredibly stupid movie about a cheer leading squad who's cheer caused demons to come out of the earth and chase try to kill the cheer leading squad. By the phony end, even Hermione's had a stitch from laughing so hard, along with the others, and the rest of the theater.

After the movie they went out for ice cream, and talked about the worst scenes of the movie, and the fact that the movie wasn't even trying to be a comedy. Sirius vowed that he would show them at least one good movie in there time here. Back at Sirius's house they talked more, telling Sirius absolutely everything about their 5th year at Hogwarts that they hadn't been able to tell him due to Umbridge's restrictions. Harry realised how easy it was to talk to Sirius. They could tell him anything and he wouldn't reprimand them for breaking the rules or being stupid. He would laugh in the right places and then tell them stories of his own years at Hogwarts. They had dinner and then Sirius announced he had to go out.  
"Why?" Harry asked. He wanted to spend more time with his godfather.

"It's just something I need to do," Sirius answered. "Don't worry we have plenty of time to be together. But don't you dare follow me. Any of you, especially you Harry." Sirius looked so serious that Harry nodded. Sirius relaxed. "Good, I'll be back soon." Then he exited the room, and they heard him go down the outside steps. They tried to entertain themselves, but they all found it difficult. When two hours had passed Harry stood up.  
"I'm going to find him," he said, heading towards the door. Then Harry felt Hermione grab his wrist.

"Harry no. We promised him we wouldn't," she admonished.

"Hermione what if he's injured? Or worse?" Harry questioned her.

"Harry I know you feel protective of him. But even if he was hurt he could be anywhere?" Hermione said. She obviously thought she had him. But Harry had a plan.

"That Anya girl knew about me, and if she did then so did his neighbors. And I saw two of them leave the house, with a big black dog following them. They looked like they were going to the graveyard," Harry answered.

Hermione stared at him, then she started speaking again. "Harry there are a huge number of graveyards in this town. And what if Sirius saw you?"

"I'll take the Invisibility cloak," Harry replied. "You two don't have to come. Then if Sirius does see me, he won't get mad at you."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but it was Ron who spoke first. "Are you mental? Harry if you're going, then me and Hermione are coming too," Ron said looking determined. Harry saw Hermione nodding. He groaned.

"Fine, you can come. Let me just get the cloak," Harry said and he walked upstairs. He knew it would be useless to make Ron and Hermione not come. They always would come with him. Harry knew that, and even though he tried to deny it, it made him glad. He grabbed the cloak from his suitcase, and went downstairs. They all got under the cloak, and walked out the door into the cool night air. In all the years of practice they could rather quickly under the cloak. They reached the first graveyard, and Harry pulled off the cloak, ignoring the other two's squeals of protest.

"Look we can move faster without the cloak on," he said. They walked through the cemetery, and Harry saw no sign of Sirius, when he felt Hermione poke him in the back. "What Hermione?" Harry asked, annoyed.

"Harry turn around," she said, and Harry noticed she sounded scared. Harry turned and found him face to face with a creature. It had the body of a human but it's face was all wrinkled, with yellow eyes, and sharp pointy fangs. A Vampire.

"Run!" he ordered, but as they tried to escape Harry noticed two other vampires drawing in. They were trapped!

Suddenly one of the vampire spun around. Behind him stood a petite blond women. "Hi," she said. "I'm Buffy, the slayer."

"Slayer," the vampire growled. "I'm going to suck you dry."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Oh please," she said. "That gets so old. Don't you undead have any better threatening statements?" Suddenly the vampire was on the ground. "You bitch," the vampire growled.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" the women asked, in the same joking tone. Out of the blue, the vampire exploded into dust. The second vampire lunged at the women and also burst into dust. The third vampire tried to run away, but the blonde threw a stake at the vampire, which hit him, and he too exploded.

Then the women realised that there were three teenagers gaping at her. "Yes those were vampires. The supernatural exists, blah, blah, blah. Now you should be getting home," she said. Suddenly she looked at Harry. "Hang on," she said. "Glasses, check. Green eyes check." Then she looked Ron, "Tall with red hair and freckles, check," she said. Staring at Hermione she said, "Bushy brown hair check. Brown eyes check. Pretty check." "Oh no," the women muttered. "Faith!" she called. They heard something crashing threw the bushes and a tall young brunette women appeared.

"What is it B?" the brunette asked.

The blonde pointed at the three of them, "I think these are the kids staying with Sirius," she said. The brunette looked at them.

"They do look like Sirius's and Anya's description. But that means...shit, shit, shit, B! Sirius is going to be so pissed," the brunette exclaimed, before letting out a piercing whistle. In a few seconds a great black dog appeared. He looked at the two women, then at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and Harry heard him growl. Suddenly Sirius was standing in front of them, looking furious.

"What the hell are you three doing out here? You promised me you wouldn't follow me!" Sirius yelled. Harry had never seen him so angry.

"Sirius calm down," the blonde women said. "Let's go back to my house and we can explain to them about all of this. Then you can yell at them." To Harry, Ron, and, Hermione, the women said. "You probably know a lot about the supernatural already, being magical, but there is a lot more than you ever knew. And by the way, I'm Buffy, and the brunette is Faith. We're Sirius's neighbors."

* * *

**A/N: **So Anya, Buffy, and Faith have all appeared. Coming up next... the rest of the Scoobies make an appearance, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn about Slayers, demons, and other goodness. Happy New Years Eve everyone!


	5. Chapter 4: Insanity Galore

**A/N: **Yay Scooby Time. And Spike! I love love love Spike.

* * *

Chapter 4: Insanity Galore

Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the two young women and Sirius through the graveyard. Hermione had grabbed both of Ron and Harry's hands, something they had used to do when they were much younger. Sirius kept on shooting back angry glares at them when he wasn't whispering with Faith and Buffy. Finally they reached the house next to Sirius's and were ushered inside by Buffy. Inside three more females stared at them.

"Buffy, what is going on?" the red head asked.

"Sirius's kids decided to go all sneaky, and gatecrash patrol," Faith replied.

"Faith," Buffy reprimanded. "Will, call Xander and Anya and get them over here. Spike too,"

"Spike is coming?" the young brunette said. She looked about the Trio's age. "Hi," she said to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "I'm Dawn, Buffy's younger sister."

"I think introduction time is later, little sis," Faith said.

"Okay everyone is the living room," Buffy ordered and they all followed her into a comfortable looking room. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down on the couch, even though everyone else was standing. Hermione had let go of their hands Harry realised. After a few minutes of awkward silence, a man with bleached blonde hair, and a black leather cloak entered the room, followed by a dark haired man who was hand in hand with who Harry recognized as Anya.

"Why are they here?" Anya asked, staring at them.

"They decided to follow Sirius," Buffy told her.

"Well why couldn't they have done at a more reasonable time? Xander and I were busy having sex," Anya stated.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at her in shock. So did the young man who was probably her husband, Xander.

"Anya," Xander spluttered. "We talked about this. Some things are meant to be kept private. And not stated in front of people we don't know."

"But I do know them, Xander. I met them today," Anya exclaimed.

Xander was about to retort when Buffy cut him off. "Xander now is really not the time. We need to tell Harry, Ron, and Hermione about us and our world. Sirius, they need to know," Buffy said in response to Sirius's growl. "So you three are wizards and a witch. You know that your race is not the only supernatural or magical race. And you also know there is evil. You have all encountered it at one time or another-"

"Oh come on, B," Faith exclaimed. "How long are you going to take? I really don't want to be up all night explaining things to these rug rats with pointy sticks."

"Faith it's going to take as long as it does. I wish Giles was here. He was always so good at this." "Anyway," Buffy said, turning back to them. "There are demons on this earth. Great big icky slimy demons. There is supposed to be one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to kill vampires, demons, and other dark creatures. The Slayer. That is what Faith and I are. Slayers."

"But you said there was only supposed to be one," Hermione interrupted. "So how come you are both Slayers?" Harry groaned. Of course Hermione would ask questions.

"Well there is only supposed to one. When one Slayer dies another one is called, on and on, blah, blah, blah. But then I was called when I was fourteen," Buffy explained. "When I was sixteen, I was drowned by a vampire. Xander performed CPR on me and I was revived. But I had still died. Another Slayer was called. Her name was Kendra. She was killed. There was nothing I could do." For a minute Buffy looked sad, and Harry felt a strong urge to comfort her. Here was someone who had experienced murder and death like he had. Then Buffy continued. "Faith was called and there suddenly became a Chosen Two instead of a Chosen One. There is far more to this story, but you will all learn about it soon enough. Now for introductions."

Buffy pointed to the young red haired women, "The red-head is Willow, my best friend. She is the most powerful Wicca in the world." The girl called Willow waved.

"What's a Wicca?" Ron asked.  
"They're magical Ron, like us," Hermione explained. "But they don't need to channel their magic through an object like we do. They use themselves instead of wands. But didn't a Wicca try to end the world last year?"

Before Buffy could speak, Willow did. "It's all right, Buffy. I should explain this," Willow said patting her friend on the arm. "Yes they did," she said facing them."I did. The women next me is Tara, my girlfriend." Willow motioned to the woman. "The magic had been building up for quite some time and I couldn't control it very well. When I thought Tara had died, grief sent me over the edge. I went evil and tried to end the world. Xander and Buffy saved me. And I spent the next few months being rehabilitated by a coven in England." Harry noticed Willow looked close to tears. The women called Tara hugged her. Harry didn't feel angry. He knew what it was like to lose someone you cared about.

"It's okay," Harry said, looking at Willow. "I don't blame you. Harry remembered something Sirius had said last year. _"The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters." _ Willow gave him a watery smile.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Well, now you know about Willow," Buffy said breaking the silence. "Her girlfriend Tara is also a Wicca. Next is my incredibly annoying little sister Dawn." Buffy nudged the young brunette girl, who smiled at them. "She was a great big ball of mystical energy called the Key. The Key could open portals to other dimensions But now she is just your usual bratty teenager who doesn't age because she did some stupid spell."

"Hey!" Dawn interrupted. "I didn't mean to do that spell. Now I'm sixteen for as long as it takes for Willow to figure out a solution." She gave a look that was so like Ginny's defiant look, Harry was startled.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Okay Dawn. You have already met Anya. Anya was a vengeance demon, before she got turned human. Then she married Xander. Xander provides comic relief and doughnuts, but he is the only normal person here."

"I resent that." Xander said. To the Trio he said, "I hold this group together even if I am normal."

The group laughed. "Then our last member is Spike," Buffy said, pointing to the blonde man in the leather coat. "Spike is a...vampire."

Harry and Ron lept up yelling. Ron backed away as Harry reached in his pockets for his wand.

Only Hermione remained calm. "Are you Spike as in Spike the Scourge of Europe? William the Bloody?" Hermione asked.

Spike burst out laughing. "I am pet. Why don't you go calm down your lover boys?"

"Oh they're not my lover boys," Hermione replied dragging Harry and Ron back onto the couch."They're just my two idiotic best friends." "Calm down," she whispered. "If Buffy trusts them and hasn't killed him already then he can't be bad."

"But he's a demon!" Harry exclaimed.

"Anya was a demon but you didn't freak out when you learned about her," Hermione state. Turning back to Spike she said, "So how come Buffy hasn't killed you?"

"Because these bloody army guys stuck a chip in my head which stopped me from harming humans. This lot helped me even though I hated them and they hated me. But now they've grown on me and I'm helping them. It's brilliant to meet more British people who don't wear tweed and look like they've had poles stuck up their arses. Like Sirius you three look normal. I was beginning to think British people had gone boring," Spike answered.

Hermione blushed. "You're British. I can tell by your accent" she said.

"So, you have now met the current Scooby gang," Buffy said.

"Buffy, do you think they're all right?" Willow asked. "I mean this is a lot to take in. Demons and and good vampires, and Slayers, and different witches. Oh and you didn't mention the Hellmouth. Sunnydale is one. It's this big place of magical energy which attracts lots of demons and evil then normal places and it's creepy and our old high school was right on top of it and we've had to fight lots of nasty creatures and deal with apocalypses and... " Willow looked at Tara. "I was babbling again. You're not supposed to let me do that." Willow said.

"It's okay sweetie. No one minds," Tara said as she kissed her.

Buffy cleared her throat. "Thanks for telling the Hellmouth bit, Will," she said. "Are you okay?" she asked. The other two nodded, but Harry was looking at Sirius, who had been silent this whole time. Sirius looked up and met Harry's gaze.

Harry felt his anger boil over even though most of it was concern for Sirius. "You lied to me!" Harry yelled. "All this time you've been pretending that everything is fine while what you've really been doing is fighting evil and demons. Being the daredevil again. You just can't seem to satisfy this need for adventure and risk, and you don't even care that you could die. You're the closest thing to a father I've ever had and now you're just going to get yourself killed because you're bored!"

"Harry..." Sirius started,but Harry cut him off.

"I saw Cedric Diggory die last year, right in front of me. My parents were killed by the most evil wizard in the world. You almost died too! And you didn't even tell me about this when I could of helped you," Harry yelled and he stormed out the door. Harry was in a storm of anger when he sat down on the porch steps. He could hear voices inside, some yelling, but he didn't care. He didn't care that there were demons and evil, or that they were on a Hellmouth, or even that there was a whole new world where Muggles knew about magic. All he cared about was that his godfather had been risking his life over and over again, and not telling him. He knew how fun taking risks could be. He was a rule breaker and all these events had happened to him. But this was different. Maybe Hermione had been right. Maybe Sirius had been alone for too long. So he had found himself a whole new world.

Harry heard someone come out the door and sit down beside him. He turned around and saw Buffy. She looked at him and before he could say anything, she spoke. "I know how you feel," she said. "It sucks having people you care about and having them risk their lives. But you can't stop them. It's their choice. And seeing your friends die right in front of your eyes, it is horrible, and when you are powerless to stop it, it's even worse. I have seen so many people die when I couldn't save them. And your best friends, even if they know you better than anyone else, they don't know what it feels like. They don't what it's like to be the Chosen One. Because as the Chosen One you always feel alone. I know what that's like. But these people even if they don't get you they know you and they love you. Dawn is my only family left too, just like Sirius is yours. I sacrificed my life for her. I died a second time. My friends brought me back, dragged me out of heaven. I couldn't live. But then I saw how much pain I was causing them and I did decide to live. You can't keep on living in the past, Harry. I know that Sirius loves you very, very much and I can tell that Ron and Hermione love you a lot too. And you've got to live Harry."  
Harry stared. She had voiced everything he was feeling and told him the truth. "Thanks," he said. He didn't know what else to say. She smiled.

"It's okay Harry. And you'll learn all about us, and our stories. But I'm going to train you, and your friends. You can help us fight evil. I stopped Dawn from fighting and it made her crazy, so you three will learn to fight too. Good?"

"Yeah," Harry replied. Suddenly she hugged him. Then she opened the door back inside and Harry followed her. He saw Sirius looking at him.

"Let's get home," Sirius said. "We can talk later."

"We'll see you all tomorrow," Dawn called out, as they left. They walked back to the house in silence. Inside the all looked at him.

''I'm sorry," Harry said to Sirius.

"No Harry I'm sorry. I shouldn't of hidden things from you. But I wanted to keep you safe. Buffy told you about the training?" Sirius replied. Harry nodded. "Good. So soon you can start that. They really are great people. I think you'll enjoy being with them. And I'm sure Hermione will be glad to hang out with some girls," Sirius said. They all laughed and Ron and Hermione went up the stairs, but Harry lingered.

"Look, Sirius you're the only family I have left. I-"

"Harry, it's all right. I understand. Now I'm not going to yell at you for sneaking out, but if you're able to go with me then you might stop following me. Anyway what's life without a little risk?"

Sirius said, and Harry grinned, before he hugged him.

Harry went up to bed, and he saw Ron and Hermione waiting for him.

"Harry," Hermione said. "While Buffy was talking to you, some of the others talked to us. And I know we will never be able to fully understand what it's like for you but we'll always be here for you. We're your best friends."

"That means that you'll never be able to get rid of us mate.," Ron said grinning. Harry laughed they would always be there for him, he knew. Hermione said good night and he and Ron both go into bed. Everything was okay for now, Harry thought, as the darkness engulfed him.

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**A/N:** Awww. Lots of fluff, pain, and explaining. Coming up next...fighting time, and revealing. Giles and Cordy will appear soon, and next chapter will not be from Harry third person. Also Harry and Buffy are not going to get together, but they are going to become really good friends.


	6. Chapter 5: Training Time

**A/N: **I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while. School just started and I've been really busy. This is kind of a fill in chapter told from Dawn third person. Please review, even if you hate the story (but don't be too mean.)

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Chapter 5: Training time

Dawn woke up early and bounded downstairs to the kitchen. Humming to herself she got some cereal. Finally there were some people her age. Not that she didn't love the Scoobies, but sometimes they were all so boring. Suddenly Willow came downstairs.

"Hi, Dawnie," she said, rubbing her eyes.

"Hi!" Dawn replied. "So what did you think of Harry, Ron, and Hermione?"

"They seem fine. Nice kids," Willow answered. "Now Dawnie, I've been looking into the spell you did and I think I have a way of fixing it."

Dawn groaned. She had tried a spell to make herself look a few years older, so she could fit in with Buffy and her friends, but it had horribly backfired. Dawn was now stuck looking like she was sixteen, but really only being three years old...forever. It had also been one of the spells which was a butt to undo. Buffy had been angry, but Willow and even Tara had been furious. They had yelled at her for ages.

"Great," Dawn said. "Can I look at it?"

Willow laughed. "No way, Dawnie. You might turn yourself into a baby. Let Tara and me handle this."

Dawn sighed. Even after everything she had been through they still sometimes treated her like a baby. Maybe that would change with three more people her age.

Half an hour later they were all at the Magic Shop, waiting to meet Sirius, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Anya, and Xander. Anya and Xander arrived first and Anya went straight up to the counter to get ready for opening time. A few minutes later Sirius, Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived. All of them went into the back room.

"Right," Buffy said. "Faith and I are going to teach you to fight. The others will be helping. Dawn, pay attention. You might learn something."

"But Buffy, I all ready know all of this stuff," Dawn complained.

"Dawn, just watch," Buffy ordered.

Dawn pouted and went to sit in the corner. She hated this. Buffy knew she could take care of herself. Dawn sulked for a while, but then she started watching. Buffy was teaching the basics to get away from an attacker: poke to the eye, jam to the nose, kick to the...private part, kick to the knee etc. It was all stuff that Dawn knew. However, she discovered that she liked watching the Trio fight. Ron and Harry were okay, but Hermione was actually fairly good. After twenty minutes Buffy told them to take a breath. She went to talk to the others, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione came over to Dawn. They all had water bottles. "Hi," Harry said. "Dawn right?"  
"Yeah," Dawn replied.

"So how long have you been fighting?" Hermione asked.

"About a year," Dawn answered. "Before Buffy wouldn't let me learn anything."

"How old are you really?" Ron inquired.

"Ron," Hermione chided.

"It's okay," Dawn said. "I'm three," she said, smiling at Ron. The three of them stared at her.

"How is that possible?" Harry asked.

"Well actually I'm really really old. I've only been in this form for three years. I was a ball of pure energy. This Hell God wanted to use me to get back to her home dimensions. So these monks turned me into a human and sent me to Buffy for protection. But then the Hell God found me. Buffy sacrificed herself to save me." Dawn explained.

"You know what's like to be used for evil too," Harry muttered. It was a statement, not a question.  
"Yeah I do," she replied. "It sucks." They all laughed, and Harry grinned at her.

"So how long have you guys been fighting the dark forces?" Dawn asked.

"Since we were eleven." Hermione replied. Dawn was about to ask how that was true, when Buffy called them over.

"We'll tell you later," Harry said, winking.

Dawn watched the three of them train for hours, occasionally taking breaks. Ron, and Hermione were determined, but Harry was throwing himself into it. By the end of the afternoon they were learning how to stake a vampire by using a dawn. Dawn vaguely heard the tinkly bell of the Magic Shop door. Then Anya screamed, a shrill, piercing scream. Buffy and Xander ran into the room, followed by everyone else.

"Giles!" Anya yelled and they saw her throwing herself at a man, who Dawn immediately recognized as Giles

"Giles?" Buffy asked/

"Hello Buffy," Giles said. "And to the rest of you. This must be Sirius, and the younger ones must be Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hello. I'm Giles, Buffy's former watcher." Giles was shaking Sirius's hand, when a gorgeous brunette stepped through the door.

"Okay I totally get the mushy stuff, but I seriously need a shower, and I better have my own room," the brunette said.

Dawn stared at her, just as Buffy, Xander, and Willow turned to Giles and yelled, "You brought Cordelia?!"

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**A/N: **Wow, shortest chapter et. If all goes well next chapter will be up tomorrow (and it will be long). Reviews? Pretty, pretty please?


	7. Chapter 6: Suprises or not

**A/N: **Okay so all was not willing, but here it is! Cordelia has not ascended into a higher plane, she is just normal straight forward Cordelia. Why she is here will be revealed soon. Please, please review. Told from Hermione third person.

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Chapter: Surprises...or not

Hermione stared at the new arrivals. The man had a British accent and wore glasses. The Scoobies looked happy to see him. As for the brunette they seemed...surprised. At least that was the nicest way of putting it.

"Cordelia, why are you here?" Buffy asked.

"Well Buffy, Angel was curious about these wizards. And he couldn't come himself and of course he couldn't send anyone else. He had to send me. For some insane reason he thought I would like to see you all again. As if. But I was kind of curious too and even though I never really liked you, I need someone to shop with. And the guys don't like too and Fred isn't a huge shopper. But you do like to shop. So Angel called Giles and Giles was coming anyway and then he came and picked me up. And the we drove here to see you. Angel and Giles thought it would be a surprise even though I told them you hate surprises," Cordelia said.

"Giles?" Buffy said.

"Cordelia is more or less right. That is how it happened," Giles answered.

"So these guys must be the wizards. Oh dear. Are all British people fashion challenged? Cause I thought it was just Giles and Wesley, but I guess I was wrong." Turning to Hermione, Cordelia said, "I have to take you shopping. You seriously need some new clothes. What's your name?"  
"Hermione," Hermione replied. She felt shocked, but strangely happy. Harry and Ron were staring at her, open mouthed.

"Cool. So Buffy tomorrow? Shopping? But we are driving, not taking the bus," Cordelia said.

"Well Cordy we were planning on training..." Buffy hinted.

"Pffft. You need to have some fun? And when the hell did you become she-Giles, all responsible and wound so tight? No offence," Cordelia said, the last bit directed at Giles.

"None taken," he said, smiling a sarcastic smile.

"Okay fine," Buffy said. Hermione noticed her expression looked resigned, but her eyes were shining.

"Great so we can take you, the new girl, Willow, Faith, Anya, and who are you two?" Cordelia asked staring at Tara and Dawn.

"Cordelia remember this is Dawn. Buffy's little sister. And the other one is Tara, my girlfriend," Willow said.

Cordelia's face went blank, but then she smiled. "I remember now. Dawn, Buffy's bratty little sister who almost got killed all those times. Hi, I'm Cordelia," she said to Tara. "You are a lot different then Oz." Tara flashed her a nervous smile.

"Great," Willow said, breaking the awkward silence. "Buffy, Hermione, and Dawn can go in Cordelia's car, and Anya, Tara, Faith, and I can take Xander's car."

"Um I really don't want to go shopping," Faith said, at the same time as Xander yelled, "Why do you have to take my car?"

"Well Faith, you need to have some clothes that don't just scream "I'm a humongous slut who wears tight leather pants and doesn't give a shit about anything"," Cordelia said.

"As for taking your car Xander, it's your day off work tomorrow, so you won't be needing it," Willow said breaking yet another awkward silence.

"Fine," Faith and Xander said.

"Hang on," Ron said. "What are we going to do?"

"You can hang out with Sirius, Xander, and Giles," Buffy replied.

"Okay," Ron said and he started whispering to Harry. Hermione sighed. They were her best friends, but they were both closer to each other than her.

"Now that we know what we are going to do tomorrow, what are we going to do about patrolling?" Sirius asked.

"Well I don't feel comfortable letting Harry, Ron, or Hermione come with us yet, and I don't want Dawn to come either," Buffy said. "You and Faith are coming right?" Sirius nodded. "Okay Will and Xander do you want to come? And Anya and Tara too?" They all nodded. "Oh and Giles could you come? I want you to see if I need more training."

"Of course, Buffy," Giles replied.

Buffy turned to Cordelia. "Do you want to go?"

"No way," Cordelia replied. "I am so sick of patrolling and killing things. This is supposed to be my vacation."

"Fine Cordelia. You can babysit," Buffy said.

"What? Uh uh. My hotel room will not fit all of these people and I need my space," Cordelia answered.

"Also Buffy. Harry might need, um, better protection than that," Giles said.

"Okay. You can go stay with Spike," Buffy said.

"What?!" Harry said.

"Harry, calm down," Hermione said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Spike is not dangerous," Willow said. "He'll just make you watch _Passions_. And tell you stories of his glory days."

"Passions?" Ron asked.

"His favorite soap opera," Willow replied.

"Harry, mate, listen to them. Spike isn't going to hurt any of us," Ron reassured.

Harry sighed. "Fine, we can go and be babysat by the vampire," he said.

"Dawn you're going too. And you Cordelia," Buffy said.

"Why?" Cordelia inquired.

"Cause Angel will be upset if you get injured," Buffy replied. "Let's go,"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked over to Sirius. "Spike isn't that bad," Sirius said. "You'll be fine."

Harry stared at him. "Be careful," he whispered.

"Always am," Sirius said, grinning. "Now get a move on."

They walked out the door, following Buffy, Cordelia, and Dawn. "Hey, Dawn," Hermione whispered.

"Yeah?" Dawn replied.

"Can you distract Harry for a minute? I need to talk to Ron," Hermione said.

"Sure," Dawn smiled, and she began talking to Harry.

Hermione fell back till she was walking next to Ron. "Ron, I have an idea," she said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Tomorrow since you are hanging out with guys, could you distract the other two, so Harry can have some time with Sirius?" she replied.

"Why?" Ron questioned.

Hermione gave him the look. "Ron you know how much Harry was looking forward to this trip. And because of this whole supernatural deal, Harry hasn't had any time with Sirius. And they really need to have time to be together," Hermione answered.

"I guess you're right. I'll do it," Ron said.

"Great," Hermione smiled.

"So you looking forward to shopping tomorrow?" Ron said, grinning.

"Shut up," Hermione replied. He laughed.

Soon they reached a crypt and Buffy threw open the door. The blond vampire who had been lying on the couch leapt up.

"Bloody Hell, Slayer! What'd you do that for?" Spike yelled.

"Cordelia has arrived. The rest of the Scoobies are patrolling and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dawn need a babysitter. You are the only person available," Buffy replied.

"I am EVIL, remember? Big Bad? Who's to say I won't kill and drink the blood of Nibblet, Princess, and the Wizards?" Spike asked glaring at her.

"Well one because you like Dawn and care about her. Two you wouldn't kill Cordelia cause I'm betting she would taste bad, three you won't kill my guests. And four? You can't. I'll pick them up when we're done. Bye-bye!" And with that Buffy walked out of the crypt.

"Bitch," Spike muttered. Turning to Cordelia he said, "How's the poof?"  
"The what?" Cordelia and Dawn asked, as Hermione, Ron, and Harry burst out laughing.

Spike grinned. "Nice to see someone who gets what I'm saying. Now let's see what shall I call you?" Spike said, the last bit to himself.

"What does he mean?" Harry asked Dawn.

"Spike doesn't use regular names. He uses nicknames. I'm Nibblet, Buffy's Slayer, Willow's Red, Xander's Prat, Anya's Demon-girl, Tara's Glinda, Sirius's Dog-Man, and Faith...well Faith is just Faith. Apparently Cordelia is Princess and you guys are the Wizards. But he's going to need a better name for you than that," Dawn explained.

"Thanks Nibblet. Okay so the taller boy is Ginger, the other one is Scar-head. But what am I going to call you?" Spike asked Hermione.

Before Hermione could reply, Ron yelled out, "You can call her Hermy!"

Hermione turned and glared at him, but Spike laughed. "Hermy? That'll have to do for now," he said.

"Spike you really need to decorate the place. Or at least clean out the bones and the dust," Cordelia called out. It seemed that she had been wondering around the crypt, while the rest of them had been talking.

Spike rolled his eyes. "Look, Princess, I really don't have time," he said.

"Of course you do. Now tomorrow I'm shopping and the day after that I'm sure that something will come up, but Thursday should work. That's sorted," Cordelia replied.

"Great idea, Princess. Except for one humongous giant flaw. I can't go out in the sunlight. And there is no way in hell that you are going to shop for my crypt by yourself.

Cordelia stared at him, her face halfway between surprise and anger. Suddenly Hermione thought of something.

"Spike, I bet Dumbledore could fix up something for you to help with the sunlight thing," Hermione said.

"Who's Dumbledore?" asked Spike, looking intrigued.

"Our headmaster. He's basically the greatest wizard of all time," Harry replied.

"That'd be brilliant," Spike said.

"Okay then I guess we'll have to wait until Spike's problem is sorted out," Cordelia sighed.

Hermione thought she heard Spike chuckle. Probably because of the suggestion, Spike warmed up a lot to them and spent the rest of the time telling them about his days as a vampire. Hermione and Dawn were fascinated and even Harry and Ron became interested. Cordelia walked around the crypt, suggesting all the things Spike could change, until Spike threatened to stuff her in the tomb, at which point she sat down in the corner and sulked.

When Buffy arrived they were all laughing, except Cordelia. "So it wasn't that bad was it?" Buffy asked.  
"Nah," Harry and Ron said.

"Bye Slayer. Nibblet. Princess. Ginger. Scar-head. Hermy." As Spike said her name he grinned at her and she smiled back. They all let, except for Buffy who said she needed a word with Spike. When Buffy came out of the crypt, she looked grim, and Hermione could hear Spike swearing. Cordelia soon departed to her hotel, and when they reached the Summers house Dawn, and Buffy said goodbye and went into the house. Inside they saw Sirius who asked them how it went, talked with them for a bit, then said goodnight. They all trooped upstairs. Hermione could tell that Ron and Harry's muscles must be aching at much as hers.

"So Hermione, what do you think about the shopping?" Harry asked

"I'm not sure," she said. "It sounds okay."

"Well I can't wait to see what you buy," Ron replied.

"That's it. Goodnight to both of you," Hermione said.

"Goodnight Hermy," they yelled and before she could say anything they ran into their rooms.

Boys, Hermione thought, as she entered her own room. Changing into pyjamas and settling into bed, she felt Crookshanks jump onto the bed and curl up beside her. Hermione fell asleep, thinking about the day in store for her tomorrow.

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**A/N: **Okay I really want to get to the next chapter (I have some great ideas including lingerie shopping) so this was kind of a fill in, but I wanted to do some Spike and the Trio interaction. Also I need a better nickname the Spike has for Hermione. Please give me some suggestions, and of course review.


	8. Ch 7: Everything's Pink in Girl World

**A/N: Sorry about taking so long to update. Hope you like this, it's mainly fluff. Reviews? Yes please**

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Chapter 7: Everything's pink in Girl world

Hermione woke up to someone knocking at her door. "Come in," she said groggily.

The door opened and Hermione saw Willow. "Hey you," she smiled. "You better get dressed. Cordelia wants to leave."

Hermione groaned. "Do I really have to do this?" she groaned.

"Normally I'm all for being doing what you want, but this is Cordelia, who has not worn the same outfit twice since she was two. So unless you want to die a horrible and incredibly painful death, you should come.

Hermione sighed. "Fine, do I need to bring money?" she asked.

"You probably want a bit. But be warned, Cordelia has an emergency credit card, that Angel gave her. And according to Cordelia there is no worse emergency than a fashion emergency.

"Great," Hermione groaned. "Now get out."

"Bye!" Willow said and she left.

Hermione got up and grabbed some clothes. She ran to the bathroom, pulled them on, gave her teeth and hair a quick brush, stuffed some money and some other necessary items into her purse, and ran downstairs. Sirius was already up.

"Do you want something to eat?" he asked.

"Don't have time. Got to go," Hermione said, rushing.

"Why? Did Cordelia threaten to kill you if you didn't come?" Sirius inquired.

"Something like that," Hermione replied.

Sirius laughed. "Have fun!" he yelled as she ran out the door. Hermione turned around and stuck her tongue out at him. She could still her him chuckling as she shut the door. Hermione ran over to the Summers and knocked on the door. Cordelia answered.

"Finally. I have been waiting forever, and what are you wearing?" Cordelia said.

Hermione blushed. "Jeans and a t-shirt," she muttered.

"Yes I can see that. Well we'll fix that today. Come on and get in the car," Cordelia said.

"Let's go!" she yelled and walked with Hermione to the car. Hermione made to get in the back, but Cordelia stopped her. "Sit in the front," she said and Hermione slid into the passenger seat of the red car. Soon all the girls were outside and Buffy and Dawn climbed into the back seat of Cordelia's car, while Willow, Tara, Anya, and Faith climbed into Xander's car with Faith driving. They drove for a while before reaching the only mall in Sunnydale. They all got out of the cars and Cordelia started walking with everyone else following her.

They walked until they reached a store, and Cordelia pushed open the doors. Hermione gasped. It was very pink, with dim rose lighting and the store smelled like flowery perfume. And it was filled with lingerie! Hermione had only ever worn plain, modest bras and panties which she had bought with her mother on school holidays.

Never lace or bold colours or stringy things. "Cordelia," Hermione whimpered.

"It's okay," Cordelia said. "I won't make you try on anything too horrendous." Then Cordelia giggled, and in response to Hermione's questioning stare responded, "Look at Faith."

Hermione turned around, and saw Faith with a startled look that was slowly turning to anger.

"What the fuck C?" she asked. "There no fucking way I am buying a matching lacy bra and panties set."

"Oh give it a rest, Faith. I'm not asking you to do that. Although I do recommend owning at least one bra," Cordelia retorted. "What's you cup size?" Cordelia asked, turning to Hermione.

"Um, I don't know," Hermione replied.

"Okay we'll get you measured. Buffy can you help Faith?" Cordelia asked.

"Sure," Buffy said, smirking. Faith glared at her. Cordelia grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her.

"Cordelia I really don't want any clothes," Hermione said.

"Don't be stupid," Cordelia replied.

"But you really don't need to do this," Hermione protested.

Cordelia spin around to face her. "Look Hermione. It's not the needing piece. I want to do this. I like to feel I can help. My boss and best friend is a vampire, one of the girls who I went to high school with is the most powerful Wicca in the world, another is the vampire slayer, and even my ex loser boyfriend is married to an ex vengeance demon, who he is completely happy with. And for some reason I'm drawn to you. You seem sweet and you clearly need fashion help. Also you're two best friends are guys, so you need some girl time. Okay?"

"Okay," Hermione replied and she smiled.

Cordelia got Hermione fitted and the woman said she was a 36 B.

Cordelia became all business, grabbing various bras and panties. They weren't that revealing and they weren't in crazy colors or patterns. Until Cordelia picked up a matching white plunge lacy bra and a white lacy thong.  
"Cordelia there is no way I am wearing that!" Hermione said.

"Relax, they're not that bad. Now go and try on," Cordelia ordered. Hermione made her way over to the changing rooms, took a deep breath and went in. Hermione pulled out the bag and looked. There were several pairs of panties in cute patterns and colors. Hermione tried on all of them and found eight she liked and which felt comfortable. Then she went for the bras. Most of them were cute t-shirt bras and Hermione found five of those that she liked. Luckily there was a sale going on she thought. Finally Hermione picked the dreaded items and closing her eyes pulled them on. Opening her eyes Hermione looked in the mirror. She saw a girl who she didn't recognize. This girl looked gorgeous and..sexy! Hermione heard a knock at the door.

"Can I come in?" she heard Cordelia's voice ask.

Hermione went over to the door and cracked it open. Cordelia came in and stopped dead.

"Wow, you look amazing. And coming from me that's a miracle compliment," Cordelia said, smiling.

"Really?" Hermione asked.

"Definitely," Cordelia replied. "Now show me everything else."

Hermione went through everything she had liked asking for Cordelia's approval. Eventually they got down to five pairs of panties and three bras, plus the matching white lacy bra and thong. They came out and saw the rest of the girls, who complimented Hermione on her choices. They were all buying at least one thing, even Dawn, although Faith had several items, but all of hers were a lot bolder than Hermione's. Cordelia also picked out a pair of lovely pyjamas for Hermione which she bought for her, as well as the matching pair. Hermione bought the rest herself. They spent the rest of the day shopping, stopping for lunch. They bought make up, jewellery, and more clothes. It had come to the point where they tried on silly things and did funny poses, making each other laugh. Even Faith had loosened up. Hermione headed back in Cordelia's car, her feet tapping along to a song on the radio. She knew how sensible and smart she was supposed to be, how uptight Harry and Ron thought she was. It was nice to do this, nice to have "girl time".

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**A/N: **Okay so I decided to let Hermione have some girl time which in my opinion she needed. I plan on more Harry, Ron, and Hermione interactions in later chapters, don't worry. Also it's going to get darker soon. Reviews feed my inspiration, so please give me some feedback. Spike nicknames for Hermione are pure gold.


	9. Chapter 8: Broken Hearts

**A/N**: This chapter has gone in a really different direction than I thought it would. Oh well. And I know this is really late to say this but THANK YOU TO ALL MY REVIEWERS! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! I value each and everyone of you. Hope you enjoy this.

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Chapter 8: Broken Hearts

Hermione walked in the door to find Harry and Ron looking at her. They grabbed her shopping bags and ran upstairs, laughing hysterically.

"Let's see what you bought 'Mione," Ron said.

"Ronald, don't you dare!" Hermione yelled.

"Too late," Ron muttered and he shook the pink bag onto the floor. Out came bras, panties, and the matching white lacy bra and thong. Harry and Ron stared in shock at the items on the floor, then looked up at her with incredulous expressions. Hermione couldn't stop herself. She burst out laughing. Suddenly Sirius was at the door.

"What is going on?" he asked. Hermione, still laughing, pointed to the items on the floor and then to Harry and Ron. Sirius's eyes swiftly took in the scene. For a second he too looked shocked, but suddenly he burst out laughing. "Wow Hermione those are pretty impressive. I see Cordelia got to you. Ron and Harry that should teach you to go through a girl's shopping." Still chuckling Sirius left the room.

Hermione turned to look at the boys with her hands on hips. "Well?" she asked.

"Sorry 'Mione," Harry said, but he looked like he was trying to bite back a laugh. Ron on the other hand was still looking flabbergasted.

"Hermione, I-I..." he stuttered.

"Oh give it a rest Ron," Hermione said.

Ron stared at her. "What's happened to you?" he asked.

Hermione felt shocked at the question. "What do you mean?" she inquired.

"I mean the thing with the Krum. And then the whole thing with the DA, breaking the rules. Not that we haven't done that before, but it was the first time you decided to start it. And now hanging out with Cordelia and bringing back...these. Where's the Hermione who was an absolute stickler for the rules and prude in our first year? Where's the most intelligent girl in our year? Next thing we know your going to turn into some stupid tart!" Ron exclaimed.

"What?" Hermione yelled. She felt hurt. "Ron, just because I actually had fun with a guy, broke a couple of rules by myself, and brought pretty, feminine things most not make be stupid or slutty! I can't believe you!" She stormed out of the room. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She heard a knock on the door.  
"It's me," she heard Harry's voice say. "Can I come in?" When she didn't respond, he opened the door. "Oh 'Mione," he said and he came and put his arms around her.

"Have you come to yell at me more?" she asked.

"Of course not. I don't think any of that stuff. I never had a problem with Krum," Harry told her.

"Why does he think those things? I know everyone else seems Cordelia is a shallow, mean girl, but she was really nice to me. She just doesn't have that much tact. She treats me like a little sister. And I've never had any real female friends before, except for Ginny," Hermione sobbed.

"I know. I get it. You're like my sister 'Mione and Ron's too. He's probably just adjusting to you changing."

"Figures," she muttered. "I knew he never cared."

Harry stared at her. "You don't mean...? Oh that sucks Hermione. A lot."

"I thought he felt the same way," she whispered. She had suspected this, but to have Harry confirm her fears to her face was awful.

"I think he did once. But that's changed," Harry replied. Hermione buried her face in his shoulder and he held her tight. It was a brotherly act, an act of comfort. Hermione heard a startled gasp behind her. She turned around and saw Ron. He looked at her with such...well she didn't really know what it was called. A mixture between shock, anger, and contempt.

"I always knew there was something going on between you," he said and stormed off.

"Let me talk to him," Harry said then he too left. Hermione collapsed on the bed. Why would Ron look like that? Why?

"I need a walk," Hermione murmured to herself. She grabbed her jacket, ran down the stairs, and out the door. She walked in a haze, not taking anything in, until she heard a car honk behind her.

"Hey Hermione, what are you doing?"

Hermione turned around and saw Cordelia. "Cordelia can you please leave me alone?" Hermione asked. In a few seconds Cordelia was standing in front of Hermione with her hands on her hips.

"Spill," she commanded.

"I'm in love with someone who isn't in love with me," Hermione said. "Please leave,"  
Cordelia stared at her. "Get in the car," she said.

"What?"

"Just get in," Cordelia repeated.

"But why?" Hermione asked.

"Because you need it," Cordelia said and Hermione climbed in. Cordelia drove for a while then pulled up to a cemetery. She got out of the car and motioned for Hermione to follow her which Hermione did. Cordelia walked up to a crypt and banged on the door.

The door was pushed open and Hermione recognized Spike sticking his head out the door.

"What the bleeding hell are you doing here Princess?" Spike asked.

"Let us in Spike. Hermione needs our help," Cordelia said.

"Why?"

"You know why. Being love's bitch is your speciality, isn't it," Cordelia stated snarkily.

"Fine, come in," Spike groaned.

Cordelia sat down on the couch and Hermione sat beside her. Spike plopped himself down in the big armchair.

"So what's happened to Hermy?" Spike questioned.

"She's in love with someone who doesn't love her. Just like you and me," Cordelia replied.

"Let's here it pet," Spike said.

"Well Ron and I have always been friends. But around our fourth year I started to feel something different. And I thought he did too. But as it turns out he only thinks of me as sister. Actually after today, he probably thinks even less of me," Hermione explained.

"That's love for you," Cordelia said. "I love Angel. He's my best friend and he knows me better than anyone else. But they'll only ever be one person for him. Buffy."

Hermione looked at Spike and he sighed.

"I'm in love with Buffy. At first I hated her and kept on trying to kill her. When I couldn't I became bloody obsessed. Then I realized I loved her. I did some awfully stupid things and she pushed me away. When she died, it tore my heart out. Then she came back and started showing an interest. We had a destructive affair. She was in pain and she took it out on me. She's still in love with Angel though. He's her soul mate. I'm not." Spike finished.

Hermione looked at the too of them. They had just poured their hearts out to her and she had in turn to them.

"Why did you do this?" she asked.

"Because for some reason, even though I barely know you, I care about you," Cordelia said looking straight into Hermione's eyes. Hermione heard Spike rummaging around and then she saw him come out holding three glasses and a bottle full of amber coloured liquid.

"Spike," Cordelia groaned.

"Princess, it's just root beer. I have developed a liking for it," Spike said. "You want some?" he asked her.

"Sure," Hermione said. Cordelia groaned. "Suit yourself," she muttered. "But Spike is the only British person I've ever met who likes root beer."

Spike poured the glasses and raised his. "A toast to love's bitches!" he declared.

"Love isn't brains, it's blood," Cordelia stated sarcastically, clinking her glass.

"Where did you find out about that?" Spike asked.  
"Angel," Cordelia replied.

Hermione clinked her glasses to theirs and took a tiny sip. She gagged. The liquid was disgusting and she hurriedly put her glass down.

Cordelia was looking at her. "Spike has a very, very bad taste in drinks," Cordelia said.

"I can tell. That is awful," Hermione replied.

"Suit yourself pet," Spike said, draining his glass in one shot. Hermione looked at the beautiful brunette and the blond vampire. Even in this dusty old crypt which smelled like age and smoke, she felt safe.

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**A/N: **This is a filler chapter. Basically a way to get Hermione closer to Cordy and Spike and a way to stir up some drama in the Golden Trio. Pretty, pretty please review.


	10. Chapter 9: What is Friendship?

**A/N:** I haven't update in a while, so here is a nice, big, long chapter for all of you. Also Sirius, in this story looks a lot younger than he does in the movies. Cordelia's hair is longer, about shoulder length. Please review.

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Chapter 9: What is Friendship?

Hermione walked into the house, trying to be as silent as she could. Cordelia and Spike had helped null her pain with stories and their constant insults to each other. Before they left Spike had threatened to come and kick Ron's arse as he put it. Cordelia had dropped Hermione off, even giving her an awkward one armed hug. Hermione tiptoed through the kitchen. Suddenly a light came on and Hermione saw Sirius standing there.

"Where were you?" he asked.

"With Cordelia and Spike," Hermione answered. She was too emotionally drained to prepare herself for the infamous Black temper.

Instead Sirius just looked at her. "Harry told me everything," he said.

Hermione sighed. "So what are you going to say about it?" she questioned.

"I'm sorry for you. What Ron said was truly awful. But I do believe that he feels remorse," Sirius told her.

"I'm not ready to forgive him," Hermione replied.

"You shouldn't be. Make him beg," Sirius said and Hermione smiled.

"Goodnight Sirius," she said.

"Goodnight Hermione," he replied.

I wonder if he's lonely, Hermione thought, as she got ready for bed. Maybe he needs someone. I could get Cordelia and Buffy to help me with that, she thought blearily, as sleep overtook her.

*

Breakfast was a truly awkward affair. Harry kept on trying to force the Ron and her into conversation. Hermione remembered doing the same thing in their fourth year. Meanwhile, Sirius sat by with an amused smirk on her face. Just as Hermione thought things couldn't get more awkward she heard a loud rap on the door. Sirius leapt up and answered it.

"Hi," Hermione heard Dawn say and Hermione turned to see Dawn standing in the doorway. "So we're going Bronzing tonight and we were wondering if you would like to come," Dawn said. "The whole gang will be there."

"That sounds good," Sirius replied. "What do you lot think?"

"What's Bronzing?" Ron asked. Hermione noticed him looking at Dawn with a look of interest in his eyes. She bristled.

"Oh it's clubbing. The Bronze is the only good place in town," Dawn replied.

"We'll go," Harry said. "It'll be fun," he responded to Hermione's glare.

"Sweet!," Dawn said. "Oh and Cordelia is bringing some clothes. She says the guys have to be dressed in style." With that Dawn bounded from the doorway. Hermione lightened up a bit at the thought of seeing Cordelia.

At about one in the afternoon Hermione heard the doorbell ring. She opened the door and saw Cordelia with her arms full of shopping bags.

"Willow has this spell which figures out a person's clothing size and their fashion taste. I swear it's the only useful spell she has ever done," Cordelia said.

"Thanks for coming," Hermione said and she hugged the brunette. Hermione felt Cordelia hug her back.

"You're welcome. I figured you needed it. The first day is always the worst," Cordelia replied.

"Now let's get the guys dressed and then I have to work on you. You are going to be the most gorgeous girl at the Bronze."

"Except for you," Hermione said.

"I'm twenty two, you're sixteen. If I say you're going to be the most gorgeous girl there, you are," Cordelia told her and she dragged Hermione into the kitchen.

"Hello Cordelia," Sirius said.

"Hi Sirius, Harry....Ron." Cordelia said the last name with such disdain that Ron looked startled. "Sirius this is your bag. Harry this is yours." Cordelia handed the bags to Harry and Sirius, but shoved the last bag at Ron without a word. Hermione stifled a laugh behind her hand.

"Sirius first. Look through and pick out what you like. Next you will model and then we will decide. Go," Cordelia ordered. Sirius winked at them as he left. He cam back in several minutes later with four outfits and Cordelia made him try on every single one. Eventually Cordelia decided on a black dress pants and grey button up shirt with a black waistcoat. The same process was repeated with Harry. Cordelia picked out an olive green shirt for him and a pair of nice grey jeans. Cordelia barely glanced at Ron and he ended up in a black t-shirt and plain blue jeans.

"Okay," Cordelia said, once she had finished. Now I'm going to be back about seven and we're going to leave at eight. I want all of you showered and the guys shaved. Hermione make sure your hair looks good and pick out a couple of outfits that you like."

"How come she gets to choose her own clothes?" Ron asked.

"Because she actually has at least some fashion sense," Cordelia said and with those parting words she left.

"Blimey, she's a nightmare," Ron said.

Hermione was about to give an angry retort when Sirius said, "From what I've heard, Ron, that isn't even half of it."

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a tide of laziness. Sirius made them a quick dinner at about six and Hermione was the first to shower and while the others took their turns, Hermione put product in her hair and tried to make it look good. At around seven Cordelia showed up. She sat Hermione down at the little dressing table and told her to wait. A few minutes later Cordelia reappeared, armed with hairspray, styling tools, and bobby pins.

"Did I not do a good job on my hair?" Hermione asked.

"You did a fine job with your hair, but it needs to be a little more elaborate. Relax and let me handle it," Cordelia said.

"How can I relax when you have hot instruments, pointy things, and chemicals near me, and are using them?" Hermione asked jokingly. Cordelia smacked her around the head in response.

"I bet my hair looks great now," Hermione said, her voice laced with sarcasm.

"Unless you want to arrive at the Bronze in sweats and flat hair, shut up and close your eyes," Cordelia retorted and Hermione did as she was told. She found herself relaxing as Cordelia's skilled fingers combed through her hair. She didn't even start when she felt the heat from the styling tools on her hair. About fifteen minutes later Cordelia said, "Open."

Hermione opened her eyes slowly, then stared at herself in shock. "Is that really me?" she asked.

"Surprisingly yes," Cordelia said, but the bite of the comment was dulled by Cordelia's huge smile.

"Cordy you are a genius," Hermione whispered. Her hair was gathered in a halfway twist and the curls actually looked controlled, shiny, and gorgeous instead of frizzy.

"Thanks. Now let's look at clothes," Cordelia replied. Hermione showed Cordelia the outfits she had picked out and Cordelia looked them over. They decided on a grey, one-shoulder top, with a purple, fake silk, mini. Hermione refused to wear heels and they picked a pair of shiny silvery black flats. Cordelia gave her a pair of pearly chandelier earrings. Hermione changed and Cordelia applauded when she came out. Hermione looked at herself in the full length mirror. She had to admit, she looked good.  
"Are we done?" Hermione asked.  
"Not quite," Cordelia replied. "We have to do your make up." Cordelia again steered Hermione into the dressing room chair. Hermione sat back and let Cordelia work her magic. When she looked at herself, she could hardly believe her eyes. "I used some soft pink blush, a reddish pink gloss, lots of black mascara, and a dash of eye liner. What do you think?" Cordelia asked.

"I love it," Hermione answered and Cordy grinned. "One final touch," Cordelia informed her and removed a small bottle. She sprayed a little perfume on Hermione's wrists and behind her eyes. Hermione inhaled the scent. It was fresh and sweet with a hint of musk. She already adored it.

"Spin," Cordelia ordered and Hermione obeyed. "Ron is going to eat his heart out," Cordelia told her. Hermione laughed, feeling a little guilty at being read so easily. Cordelia put on a leopard print dress and a pair of heels that Hermione knew she would never be able to walk in. She put on some make up and left her hair down. Even with the hasty operation, Cordelia looked amazing.  
"You ready?" she said to Hermione. Hermione nodded. She felt like her air passage ways were constricting. She followed Cordelia until they reached the top of the stairs. "Remember head up and good posture. Walk down those stairs like you're the queen. Show Ron how hot you really are." Cordelia told her.

"Cordelia!" Hermione said.

"What? It's what you want," Cordelia responded. "Now go," and she gave Hermione a little push.

Hermione took a deep breath and started down the stairs. She saw Ron, Harry, and Sirius's heads turn toward her and she gave a little smile. When she reached the bottom, they were all staring. Sirius let out a piercing wolf whistle. Hermione glared at him.  
"Just kidding Hermione. But I got to say, look out world here comes Hermione Granger. Nice job Cordelia," Sirius said.

"Wow 'Mione. You look amazing," Harry said in a stunned voice. Hermione looked at Ron. He eventually shut his mouth and stonily ignored her. Hermione felt her heart give a feeble thump. She had anticipated his reaction, but nothing could prepare her for the pain it caused. Hermione felt someone squeeze her hand. She looked down and saw Cordelia's hand wrapped around hers. Hermione looked back up and Cordelia gave he a small, sad smile.

"Sirius, why don't we just walk to the Bronze? It's really not that far," Cordelia said.

"Sure," Sirius agreed and they set off. Cordelia stuck close to Hermione as they walked and told her story's from high school. Harry listened to some of them and even Sirius laughed at a few. Ron, however, completely ignored them. They reached the Bronze and entered. Hermione was overtaken. Loud music was playing and there was low light. The place smelled like junk food, alcohol, and people. There were so many people, dancing and talking. Hermione broke into a grin.

"Do you like to dance?" Cordelia asked.  
"I think so. I enjoyed it at the Yule Ball," Hermione answered.

"Good," Cordelia said and just then the Scoobies spotted them. They came over to greet them and all of them were there. But Hermione's eyes fell on Faith. She was wearing tight black jeans and top that showed a great amount of cleavage, but that had cap sleeves, and big black heels. Sirius doubled over in laughter. A second later a loud smack was heard and Sirius yelled.

"What was that for Faithy?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"Do not call me Faithy. And if you don't stop laughing, I'll murder you, slowly and painfully, and won't even mind having to go to jail for it," Faith said menacingly.

"You know you love it, Faithy. What's with the clothes?" Sirius replied.

Faith frowned. "Buffy said, and I quote,'Faith you really have to wear nicer clothes who you will appear more of a skank than you really are.' But I suspect the real reason was that looking at me in leather pants was making her horny." Faith finished with a wicked grin at Buffy, who choked on her drink.

"Faith, I disagree with your comment. Buffy only likes to have sex with men. But then does she like them dangerous which you are. Except Riley wasn't dangerous. He was boring and you say he was awful in bed," Anya said, thoughtfully. This time, Xander choked.

"An!" he yelled.

"What? I mean she never liked you even though you had a huge crush on her. And you aren't dangerous. But I don't mind. Because I love you and you're my husband," Anya replied.

Xander who was about to give an angry retort, softened at the 'I love you', part. "I love you too An," Xander replied and they started kissing.  
Cordelia cleared her throat. "If you lot are done with your lame ass conversations, Hermione and I are going to dance," she announced and grabbed Hermione's hand. "Anyone coming?" Everyone decided to join them on the dance floor. While Buffy and Cordelia were teaching Harry and Hermione to dance and Faith was helping Sirius, Hermione noticed Ron dancing with Dawn, and he was dancing really...friendly. Hermione watched him grab Dawn's hand and they went off to get drinks. Hermione couldn't breathe. She vaguely heard Harry say he needed a moment, but she couldn't process what was happening. Then Cordelia whispered in her ear, "Just dance. Trust me," and Hermione did. Suddenly she saw Spike and ran over to him.

"Spike!" she called and he spun around. "Come dance with us," Hermione said.

"No thanks, pet. I don't dance," he replied.  
"Neither do I, but I'm loving it. Please?" Hermione asked.  
Spike sighed. "Fine, but only one song," he grumbled and followed Hermione onto the dance floor. The Scoobies seemed surprised, but they quickly got used to it. Then a really fast song came on and they all started dancing in a group, even Spike. Hermione laughed, a laugh of pure joy. She was dancing in Muggle club with people she had met only three days ago, but Hermione Granger, the top girl in her class, the brainiac, the rule stickler, was having the time of her life. Ron and the pain he caused could wait. She was going to have fun with her friends.

*

Harry searched the club for Ron, before he found looking incredibly cozy next to Dawn on the couch.

"Hey Ron, Can I talk to you for a minute?" Harry asked.

"Sure," Ron said and Harry led him into a corner.

"What do you think you're doing?" Harry asked.

"Huh?" Ron replied.

"Cuddling and dancing with Dawn," Harry responded.

"What? Can I not hang with someone I like now. I like Dawn," Ron said.

"You can, but can't you see what you're doing to Hermione? You're breaking her heart." Harry informed him.

"She doesn't seem too put out. She's dancing with the vampire and her new best friend. I don't think she gives a damn."

Harry felt his anger boil over. "How can you be so thick?" he yelled. "She's been in love with you for years. But apparently that doesn't matter. You can just go off with who ever you want and not even care. She's our best friend!"

"Our best friend is not a tart! This isn't our Hermione!" Ron yelled back.

Harry couldn't believe this. Calmly and deathly quiet he said, "Hermione has a friend who she cares about and I like Cordelia. Saying those things is bull. The only reason I'm not punching you as hard as I can right now is because you are my best mate. But until you spot acting like a complete and utter prat, leave me and Hermione alone," and Harry walked away.

He couldn't believe what he had just done, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

Then Harry heard a piercing scream. He knew that scream. It was Hermione. He ran out into the alley where he saw Buffy, Faith and Sirius already there. But that wasn't what drew his attention. Hermione was kneeling under on the ground beside Cordelia and Harry saw Cordelia's eyes rolling in her head, her body twitching. Cordelia opened her mouth and let out the most piercing scream and suddenly Harry realized what was happening to her. Cordelia Chase was under the Cruciatus Curse and just then, Harry's scar began to burn.

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**A/N: **I am evil I know. But remember reviews make me write faster :).


	11. Chapter 10: Disgusting Demons

**A/N: **I am so sorry it has taken this long. My laptop broke and now I have to use my old computer, which I really dislike. I've also had a really stressful past two weeks. But here it is! Turned into something quite different from what I wanted it to be and is sort of a filler chapter. It's basically giving as a chance for the Scoobies, Golden Trio, and Sirius to evolve their relationships with each other. As always, I love and value all my reviews and reviewers and I hope you will review this chapter too.

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Chapter 10: Disgusting Demons!

The creepy snake man's face swam before her eyes along with a smoky skull that had a snake sticking out of it's mouth and some crazy bitch with awful hair. And she was in pain. More pain than she had ever been in. Suddenly the world came back and she found herself lying in the alleyway outside the Bronze with Hermione, Buffy, Faith, Harry, and Sirius leaning over her.

"What? Have I grown an extra head or something?" she asked.

"You were under the Cruciatus curse," Hermione said, her face stark white.

"The what?" Cordelia said.

"A curse that causes horrible pain, the worst you could ever experience. Who put it on you?" Hermione asked.

"No one put it on me. It was the stinking vision and its god awful repercussion. And the PTB have decided the most horrible time to give me one. I'm supposed to be taking a holiday, but they have no consideration for my plans," Cordelia bitched.

"Wait, you're a Seer?" Hermione questioned. "Like Professor Trelawney?"

"I doubt this lady is True Seer. There aren't very many of us and being one is hell," she replied.

"C, you know Angel is going to get on his big concerned shit when you tell him," Faith said.  
"I don't really want to tell him, but of course he'll find out anyway," Cordelia replied. She tried to sit up and pain shot through her body. She had forgotten if a couple of second that she had indirectly just had the most painful curse in the world put on her. "Shit," she hissed.

"Cordelia, I know you're in pain, but please tell us what you saw," Sirius said.

"I saw some creepy, snake dude, a crazy women with the worst hair I have ever seen, a bunch of people with robes and masks, lots of flashing green light, and a big skull floating in the sky with a snake sticking out of its mouth. And I heard screaming, so much screaming," Cordelia shook her head as the images swam before her eyes. She opened her mouth to tell them the last, worst, part, but bit her lip. She couldn't bring herself to do it. The wizards and witch were whispering among themselves and Buffy grimaced.

"Well Cordy we better get you back," she said and helped the brunette to her feet. Cordelia gasped. She looked at Sirius, Harry, and Hermione, and grief washed through her.

_If you don't tell them, it's going to bite you in the ass, _her little inside voice told her.

However Cordelia had had a lot of practice disregarding that voice and she ignored it. But as she unsteadily walked to her car, surrounded by people she couldn't help but feel that the voice was right

*

Harry was sitting in the Summer's living room, watching Willow and Tara cast a spell. Since Sirius had been hanging out with two Slayers, Hermione had been with Cordelia and surprisingly Spike, and Ron had been with Xander and Dawn, Harry had been hanging around Willow and Tara. They were sweet about it and welcomed him into their fold. Harry had the feeling they thought he would like to hang out with the Slayers since they were more like him, but he didn't connect to Buffy and Faith in the same way. It felt sort of stupid, but they had become like older sisters, in a maternal way. Harry knew this was what Cordelia was like to Hermione, but in a more best girlfriend way. The Scoobies were becoming family and Harry loved this. He knew the Weasleys considered him part of his family, but it was nice to know he now had more in this world than just them and Sirius.

"Hey Harry," Tara said. "We were wondering if you would like to try a spell with us."

"Me? Why? I don't think I can do Wiccan magic," he replied.

"Why don't you give it a go?" Willow asked.

Harry felt dubious, but he came and sat between them. They each grasped one of his hands and then each others.

"So just concentrate with us. We're going to try and float the pencil in the middle. Okay?" Willow said.

"Okay," Harry answered and he briefly closed his eyes, putting all his concentration into the pencil. He heard two gasps and looked up. The pencil was almost up to the ceiling and Willow and Tara were whispering.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

Tara turned to him. "Harry we felt something when you concentrated. It seems you have an aptitude for Wiccan magic. We could teach you if you wanted," she said.

"Seriously?" Harry said. They nodded. "Wow, that would be great. Thanks."

They smiled and squeezed his hand. It wasn't hugely intimate, but it felt like care. Harry couldn't believe it. He had never excelled at anything in school, except for Quidditch. He had always just been the Chosen One. Given, that had always been a huge deal, but it would be nice to be good at something else other than saving the world. Harry smiled and squeezed back.

*

"Ron! Look at this!" Dawn yelled and Ron started.

"What is it?" he mumbled. She ran over and stuck a book under his nose.

"See that demon?" He nodded. "It does this thing where it shoots its bodily fluids at it's attacker and then the attacker turns into those fluids. Isn't that gross? Buffy won't be happy when I tell her."

"Why do you need to tell Buffy?"

"Because there have been these cases of really stinky liquids found and a person's clothes by them, but the person has disappeared. This demon might be causing it and that means Buffy and Faith will have to be kill it. Buffy hates being covered in slime," Dawn explained.

"Oh," Ron said. He didn't really understand the whole girls getting covered in goo. He was sure Hermione would have an explanation after a certain amount of eye-rolling and sighing. Harry would no doubt be interested too...Oh right. They weren't talking to him. Ron had never felt so alienated from his friends.

"How is it? With Harry and Hermione?" Dawn asked, placing an hand on his arm.

"It's like I'm wearing Harry's invisibility cloak. If it was possible for a person to become invisible from being ignored, I'd of disappeared," he joked feebly.

"Well there was this one case in our first year here, where a girl Buffy went to school with became invisible from never being noticed and tried to kill Buffy and Cordelia," Probably from the look of alarm on his face, she hurriedly said, "Not that it will happen to you! Nobody even realized this girl existed. And everyone here notices you exist. I mean Harry and Hermione still know you're alive, they just hate your guts."

"Thanks, Dawn. Really. I feel a lots better," he said sarcastically.

She smiled sheepishly. "I'm really glad you're here Ron," she said.

"I'm glad to be here too. Except for the fact that being here has ruined by relationship with my two best friends," he replied.

She gave a small laugh and returned to her book. Several minutes later, he heard "Eww!" and sighed, lifting his head to see what undoubtedly disgusting creature she was going to show him.

*

Faith hated to run. It made her feel like she was backing down. But B had ordered them to flee so they could lure the demon into a more open spot. Sirius was beside her and he flashed Faith a smile when she looked at him. That cocky, cheeky smile she had come to know so well. Faith felt her heart flutter. What the hell? She must of imagined it. Just then, Sirius who had pulled ahead of her while she was day dreaming, stopped. Faith ran straight into him and knocked him down. She tripped over him and landed on his chest. Then Sirius looked right at her with those grey eyes that were so out of sync with rest of his face, filled with the pain Azkaban had put in them. Faith felt like she could lie on his chest forever, drinking in his scent. Suddenly Sirius laughed.

"Faithy, you being a Slayer makes this pretty uncomfortable. Could you get off?" he said.

"Right," Faith replied, springing to her feet. She offered him her hand and he took it. They were brushing themselves off when Buffy appeared.

"What is going on?" Buffy asked.

"Chill B. Sirius and I just a little head on colision," Faith told her with a saucy wink at Sirius.

"Faith is this really the time? I mean..." Buffy trailed off and shock registered on her face. "Faith look behind you!" she screamed. Faith turned and saw a huge demon, black and green dripping with goo.

"That is nasty. Bet your mother died of shock when she saw what disgusting baby she had, sunshine," Faith yelled to the demon and drew her knife.

"It is rather disgusting," Sirius said. "What kind of demon is that?"

"A Hoosalung or Hasonlug," Buffy replied. "Giles explained to me what it was, but I wasn't really listening. He didn't tell me it would be this gross though."

"Can we stop worrying about ugly boy's name and kill him? I am itching to get rid of a demon," Faith yelled. Buffy and Sirius nodded and they went into action. _They worked pretty damn well together_, Faith thought as she dodged between the demons legs. Sirius, in dog form, was distracting the demon and Buffy was trying to wound one of its eyes. Faith swung and struck its leg. The thing howled and turned around, but just then Faith nailed the other leg. The thing crashed to the ground, trying to right itself. It was too late however, and Buffy's knife sliced the demons neck. It howled one final time and fell silent. Sirius arrived, panting, in human form.

"Nice team work, Faithy," he muttered. She was about to hit him, but instead she flashed him a real smile, not the slightly evil one she usually showed. He grinned back. They both started when they heard a shriek from Buffy.

"Uggh," she screamed. "These are my favourite pants." Faith turned to see Buffy's pants covered with demon goo.

"You shouldn't where your nice clothes slaying, B. I don't," Faith grinned.

"That's because you don't own any nice clothes," Buffy retorted.

"Ladies, lets calm down. We still have an hour before we need to go back," Sirius said.

"How is at your house?" Buffy asked.

"Bloody awful," he replied. "Ron and Harry aren't talking to each other and neither of them have told Hermione why they have fallen out, which makes her even more upset at Ron and even a bit mad at Harry. I can't wait till they get themselves."

Buffy and Sirius chatted as they walked, leaving Faith to her thoughts. Faith was in a kind of stupor. She couldn't believe what was happening. She heard about other girls developing crushes, butterflies in your stomach, your heart pounding when he looked at you, but it didn't happen to her. Those things were for girls who believed in true love, soul mates, and poufy white dresses. Girls like B, not girls like her. She was Faith freaking Lehane! She was the infamous hookup girl who used guys and dumped them. She did not have relationship, she didn't know the meaning of commitment, and most of all she didn't believe in happy endings. So why was she starting to feel these things for Sirius? It didn't make sense. Just then Faith spotted a group of vampires. _Bingo_, she thought and crept toward them. She had to up the score with B and get Dog Boy out of her head. She was NOT going to fall in love with Sirius Black.

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**A/N: **The next chapter will probably be a while, since my laptop is in the shop. Also, all except the first scene are occurring about a week or more after the Bronze fiasco. Questions? Comments? Hit the button at the button at the bottom that says review. Thanks!


	12. Ch 11: Waves & the Bonds of Frienship

**A/N: **It took me a very, very long time to write this chapter. My muse was feeling very, very sick, but it it much better now. Thank you so much for sticking with this. I hope you like and please, please with cherries on top review.

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Chapter 11: Waves and the Bonds of Friendship

Hermione yawned as she stretched. She winced, gingerly feeling a bruise that she had received in training. The three of them were still training, even though it was incredibly awkward. But Giles had insisted that they all train together. He had said that learning to survive was far more important than some petty quarrel. Buffy and Cordelia had rolled their eyes and huffed, but they had listened to him anyway. Hermione liked Giles. He was like the father figure of the group, a sort of younger Dumbledore. And he had the most amazing books. Hermione had spent hours in the magic shop, pulling titles off the shelves, sitting down, and losing herself in the ancient words. She loved it and it was nice to know that the old Hermione was still in their somewhere. She had also been spending a huge amount of time with Cordelia, who she was incredibly close too. Cordelia understood her in a strange way. But Harry and Ron were still fighting. Hermione had to admit she was tired of it. Of course she had been happy when Harry had stood up for her, but still...they were best friends and she knew they missed each other. But each time Hermione saw Ron, he ignored her, and Harry looked her as if he thought that she was crazy to forgive Ron. Hermione was getting pissed. Just then the door opened, jerking her out of her reverie.

"Good morning Hermione," Sirius said. He was smiling and Hermione suspected he was amused by their quarrel. But he wasn't taking sides. "Buffy and Dawn have decided we should all go the beach. Tara, Willow, Xander, Anya, and the rest of us. Cordelia's coming too. Do you want to go?"

"Yeah Sirius. That would be great," Hermione replied.

"Brilliant. I'm going to go and tell Harry and Ron now." Sirius made to leave, but he stopped at the door. "Oh and Hermione, don't give up. Remember, you have to carry on the Marauders legacy as the most trouble Hogwarts has ever had." He winked and left. Hermione thought to herself as she rummaged in the room collecting what she needed. Cordelia had taken her shopping, again, and had gotten her two bikinis, sunglasses, and other necessary beach things in Cordelia's opinion. Hermione chuckled as she remembered Cordelia whirring around the shops, finding different clothes for Hermione to try on. Hermione changed into her bikini. It was pink and not that revealing. She threw on the cover up dress Cordelia had bought, slipped on a pair of flip flops, and grabbed her bag. She ran down the stairs to the kitchen where she saw Sirius and Cordelia in living room.

"Hey Cordy," Hermione said.

"Hello 'Mione," Cordelia replied. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. But I don't think Harry and Ron are," Hermione said.

"I'll go wake them up," Cordelia said and she disappeared.

"Oh dear," Sirius muttered. A few seconds late they heard Cordelia yelling. Several minutes passed before Cordelia reappeared, but she had Harry and Ron behind her, both yawning, wearing swimsuits and sandals with t-shirts and holding beach bags.

"Did they just magically decide to get up Cordelia?" Sirius joked.

She glared at him. "No, I persuaded them," and Cordelia walked out of the house.

"My mother could take lessons from that woman," Ron said rubbing his ears. "Where did she learn to scream like that?"

Hermione noticed Harry opening his mouth as if he was about laugh, before shutting it grimly. Hermione gritted her teeth. "Boys," she mumbled under her breath.

Harry and Ron both stared at her. She remembered the last time she'd done that. It had been last summer at Number 12 Grimauld Place. Harry and Ron had had a stupid argument and had been sitting on opposite sides of the room. Suddenly, they had gotten up, and walked toward each other, before stopping awkwardly. Then they had roughly embraced. Hermione had muttered "Boys" under her breath. They had both turned to look at her, but then grinned at each other, before running and bowling her over in a hug. Hermione had been annoyed before she had started laughing. That was where Ginny had found them, rolling on the floor with tears in their eyes.

Hermione felt a pang so deep in her gut, she gasped. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, she thought miserably. They were supposed to be the Golden Trio, the biggest band of misfits ever seen at Hogwarts. They'd been inseparable since Harry and Ron had rescued her from the troll, except for a few awful times. They were so important to each other and been there for each other through the worst times in their lives. She and Ron had tagged along on every dangerous thing Harry had ever done, even if he tried to stop them. Even with the Scoobies in their lives, Hermione couldn't believe that they'd let this happen. She felt like she would cry.

"Let's go," Sirius yelled and Hermione jumped. She walked out the door with Harry and Ron following. She climbed in Cordelia's car while Harry and Ron leapt into Sirius's. The whole drive Hermione barely spoke to Cordelia who kept on shooting worried glances at her. They arrived at the beach and Hermione saw an amazing stretch of blue. Hermione had only seen the ocean once before and that had been in Wales, where it had been grey and cold. This beach wasn't like the beaches in storybooks, but it was warm and the sea was blue.

"What do you think?" Cordelia asked.

"Wow," Hermione breathed.

Cordelia smiled at her, but Hermione recognized the smile. It was Cordelia's scheming smile.  
"You have a plan, don't you?" Hermione asked.

"You'll have to wait and see," Cordelia replied.

Hermione shook her head and followed Cordelia down to the beach. She saw the Scoobies lying at one spot in the beach. They had a bunch of coloured towels lying on the sand. Cordelia and Hermione approached and everyone waved. Hermione lay out her towel while Cordelia drew Buffy, Willow, and Xander aside. Hermione took off her cover dress and slipped on her sunglasses. She covered herself with sunscreen and lay down on her towel. The warm sun beat on her body and Hermione felt herself growing sleepy. She was dozing off. When she felt something soft hit her in the stomach. Hermione sat up and opened her blurry eyes to see Cordelia looking down at her and Cordelia's hat laying on her tummy.

"Come on," Cordelia said.  
"Cordy, what's going on?" Hermione asked, getting to her feet.

"You'll thank me later," Cordelia said mysteriously and began walking down the beach. Hermione followed, incredibly curious.

They reached a spot several yards down the beach and Hermione saw Buffy, Willow, and Xander, sitting on the sand, with Harry and Ron sitting with them. Ron and Harry looked angry while Buffy, Willow, and Xander looked thoughtful.

"Cordelia what have you done?" Hermione yelled.

"Look Hermione. I never had any close friends in high school. I didn't realize how much I wished I did till I joined the Scoobies. If you lose them now you'll never get them back. You're like my little sister anyway and it's my job to sought out your problems when you can't," Cordelia told her.

Hermione sighed. "You're not going to let me ignore this are you?" she groaned.  
Cordelia gave Hermione her best glare. "No way."

"Okay, I'll do it," Hermione said and Cordelia smiled.

"Good and I don't interrupt me for another hour, at least. I really need to tan," Cordelia said.

"Cordy-" Hermione started, but Cordelia interrupted her.

"Shush. Now go fix your friendships before Harry and Ron kill each other," Cordelia said and she walked off. Hermione sat down in the sand. Buffy, Willow, and Xander smiled at her.

"Okay so we've all noticed that you three are having problems, Harry and Ron especially. But Cordelia is the only one who decided to do something about it," Buffy said.

"And she came to find us," Willow said.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Because we know how you feel," Willow said. "When Buffy first came to Sunnydale she befriended both of us and we found out about her Slaying. But she was still worried about us. She was terrified that we would get ourselves killed."

"I still am," Buffy cut in.

"Oh come on Buff. Willow was the Big Bad and I am the the evil carpenter. Plus I'm married to a former vengeance demon and if I can survive Anya that I can survive anything," Xander joked.

"Shut up you two," Willow said. "Anyway we tagged along with Buffy and eventually she accepted we would be there for her. And yeah we fought, but we also saved the world."

"Exactly," Buffy said. She was looking at Harry. "Harry I get what your going through. And I get how much you want to protect them. But it wasn't for my friends I would be dead many times over. And I'd probably of become like evil Faith. You need them."

"Yeah you do," Xander said. "Being friends with a Chosen One can be problematic. You almost die many times, but that doesn't you have to stop being friends. Hell, several times I've questioned Buffy's judgement. And she wasn't always right. But it didn't matter in the end. Through everything we're still friends. It's fun watching Buffy kick demon ass. High school was torturous, but at least I had Buffy and Willow. Even when they were both idiots they're still my friends."

"You see? We're incredibly important to each other. We've all done things we're not proud of. And we've all changed. I mean I'm a powerful Wicca and a lesbian. But I was a geek in high school. Buffy's become more mature, even if she still does love shopping and making silly puns and Xander is the only one of us with a steady job and who is married. But we managed to stay together, through all the demons, and dark things, and prophecies, and even death. But friendship is forever."

"Yeah. And you three are like the new Scooby Gang. What would the world do without a Chosen One and that Chosen One's friends causing mischief?" Xander joked.  
Buffy smacked him. "Friendship can outlast anything, even when your friends hurt you so bad you can't breathe. Even when they raise you from the grave and diss your relationships," Buffy said. Willow and Xander both looked uncomfortable.

"So think of that. We'll leave you alone now," Willow said and the three rose and walked off, their arms touching.

Hermione turned to look at Harry and Ron. When she saw they both still had scowls on their faces, Hermione exploded.

"How can the two of you be so stupid!? You've been friends for five years. We've been through everything together. Harry, even if we never faced Voldermort or the Basilisk or fought off a hundred Dementors we've been behind every step of the way. And Ron, you may be an utter git sometimes, but you're still our friend. And we do change. But, does that mean we're going to lose each other? Because I couldn't bear it. I forgive both of you. Can't you forgive each other?" Hermione yelled. The tears were pouring down her face and Harry and Ron both looked alarmed. They jumped to their feet and walked toward her, but Hermione held out her hands.

"Please look at each other. Please remember. Otherwise I can't do this any more," Hermione said.

Harry and Ron stared at each other. And slowly Hermione saw the anger in their eyes replaced by something softer.

"Why does she always do this?" Ron grumbled.

"I don't know," Harry replied.

"She's going to say it," Ron said.

"She definitely is," Harry told him.

"Look mate I'm sorry I was such a git to you. You didn't deserve it," Ron said. "And 'Mione I'm sorry that I hurt you. I didn't know..." he trailed off.

"It's okay, Ron," Hermione said. "I'm over it. Although if you ever call me a slut again I am going to beat you to a pulp." Ron grinned sadly at her.

Harry cleared his throat. "Ron I shouldn't of said those things to you. It was wrong," Harry said.

"It's not like I didn't deserve them," Ron replied.

"Hermione I should of listened to you. I was being a complete prick."

"You both were idiots..."

"Boys," Harry and Ron muttered under their breaths. Hermione glared at them.

"Don't do that 'Mione. You look like Cordelia. And you can't expect not to know that you're going to say that. We know you that well."

Hermione at them, but then she burst out laughing. "Yes you do," she said smiling. As they talked they had walked closer to the water and Hermione felt the water lap at her toes.

"What do you think of the ocean?" Hermione asked.

"It's huge," Ron said, just as Harry said, "It's amazing."  
"Well let's get in," Hermione said and she ran into the waves. At the first the water was cold, but it soon became warm. She heard Harry and Ron run in behind her. Hermione turned around and got a face full of salty water. After she spluttered she saw Ron's sheepish face. Instead of yelling Hermione knelt, gathered some water in her hands and flung it in Ron's surprised face. It turned into war. They chase each other, splashing and throwing water. Several times waves knocked them over and they found themselves on the sandy bottom of the ocean, laughing. None of the Scoobies appeared. They eventually returned and no one asked about their absence. They had a picnic on the beach and spent the rest of the day lazing on the beach and chatting with everyone. Just before they left everyone went in for one last swim. Hermione watched Xander chasing Anya through the waves, Willow and Tara swimming lazily in the water, Faith and Buffy doing some kind of contest, Sirius playing in the water in his dog form as Dawn raced after him, and Cordelia laying in the rocking ocean. She felt an overwhelming sense of friendship towards all of them. Just then she felt Harry and Ron come up behind her. She lent on Ron's shoulder and Harry put an arm around her shoulders. This was something else they did in times of tragedy and times when the just needed each other.

"Something is going to happen," Harry murmured. Hermione and Ron turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"I can sense it," Harry said. "Something bad is going to happen."

"Well if it does we'll be fine," Ron said confidently. When they both stared at him, he sighed. "Come on. We have two slayers, two Wiccas, a Watcher, a former vengeance demon, a Seer, the Muggle who's kept them together, a vampire, the Key, and a convicted wizarding murderer. Plus Angel's group in LA and whoever else Buffy and her friends have, and of course us. What could go wrong."

Harry and Hermione both looked at him in disbelief.

"How do you remember all of that?" Hermione asked in shock.

"Dawn goes on and on about all of them," Ron admitted.

Harry and Hermione stared at him, then they started laughing. Ron looked puzzled, but then he joined in. Ron was right, Hermione thought. No matter how bad it got, they had allies this time, people who could actually help them. In the meanwhile, Hermione had her friendships restored and they all had a whole new family. Hermione looked at Harry and Ron's faces.  
"We have to promise that we won't ever fight like that again," she whispered.

"Of course," Harry and Ron replied and Harry squeezed her shoulder. The three of them watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean and throw dazzling colors across the dark water. Hermione smiled to herself. She knew that as long as they were together they could survive anything.

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**A/N:** I debated a long time on whether to repair their friendships so soon. But I felt I had to do it. I'm sucker for happy fics. If you couldn't tell from by huge blatant hint conflict is coming. Now go review and tell me what you think. Your reviews make feel like this story is worth something


	13. Chapter 12: Results, Revelations

**A/N: **Here it is people and it's over 4,000 words! I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Also, some of the writing in here is taken directly from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince of which I own none just like the rest of this story, except the plot. A big thank you to everyone who has favorited and reviewed this story. All of you are fabulous and I love you dearly.

* * *

Chapter 12: Results, Revelations

Harry awoke the next morning feeling lighter than he had in a while. He and Ron were friends again and the three were a group once more. Suddenly, Harry heard a ear-splitting shriek. He bolted out bed and rushed down the stairs, not even pulling a shirt on. He saw Ron, Hermione, and Sirius in the kitchen. Hermione was gripping Ron's elbow so hard that that part of Ron's arm was turning white. Ron was bleary-eyed, but he had a look of pain on his face. Sirius stood aside, smirking.

"What's going on?" Harry asked. Hermione pointed a shaking finger to the window and Harry looked. Flying towards the house were three specks.

"They're owls," Hermione muttered. "And they probably have our O.W.L results." Hermione's eyes were wide and terrified. Harry felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach. He had not thought about the tests they had taken at the end of last year, but now that they were facing him again, he felt worried. As the owls grew closer and they saw each owl was holding a large, rectangle envelope, Hermione started whimpering. The three birds soared through the window. Sirius grabbed the letters from the owls and they took off. Sirius handed each of them their letters. Hermione's fingers were trembling so much she could barely break open the seal. Harry broke his seal and opened up the piece of parchment easily.

_ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS_

_ Pass Grades: Outstanding (O)------------------------Fail Grades: Poor (P)_

_ Exceeds Expectations (E)-------------------------Dreadful (D)_

_ Acceptable (A) -------------------------------------Troll (T)_

_HARRY JAMES POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:_

_Astronomy: A_

_Care of Magical Creatures: E_

_Charms: E_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Divination: P_

_Herbology: E_

_History of Magic: D_

_Potions: E_

_Transfiguration: E_

Harry stared at the parchment, reading it over and over again. It was all right. He had always known he would fail Divination and he had had no chance of getting a good grade in History of Magic, but he had passed everything else. Good in charms, transfiguration, herbology, and even Potions. And, this fact made Harry's heart soar, he had achieved an "Outstanding," in Defence against the Dark Arts!

"Well?" Sirius asked. He still had a grin on his face, but his eyes looked anxious. Wordlessly Harry handed Sirius the piece of parchment. Sirius quickly read the parchment through, and his grin widened as he read it. He put the piece of paper down and slapped Harry on the back.

"Well done Harry," he said. "Your parents would have been proud." Harry felt a lump in his throat.

"Really?" he asked.

"Definitely," Sirius replied.

"How did you do?" Ron asked. He picked up the piece of paper and grinned as he read it.

"Nice job mate. Always knew you'd be top at Defence."

"What about you?" Harry questioned.

"I didn't get any Outstanding, but I only failed History and Divination and who cares about them? I better go write to Mum and Dad. Mum will be thrilled." Ron made to go up to the bedroom, but stopped when he saw Hermione. Harry noticed Hermione was had her head bent over her paper.

"Hermione," Harry said tentatively, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" Hermione raised her head. She was grinning.

"Yes," she said and handed Harry her piece of parchment. Ron moved over and read it along with Harry. When they had finished, they looked at Hermione is astonishment.

"Ten "Outstandings" and one "Exceeds Expectations" in Defence against the Dark Arts?" Ron asked. "Hermione you're amazing."

"Yeah, you are," Harry said. Hermione blushed ans smiled. She grabbed Harry and Ron's parchments and scanned them with her eyes.

"Harry you beat me in an exam!" Hermione shrieked. "That's great!"

"What about me?" Ron grumbled.

"You did good too Ronald," Hermione said.

"Right I'm going to make some breakfast," Sirius said and he moved over to the kitchen. Harry's heart was soaring. He had only one tiny sinking feeling in his stomach. Now he could never be a Auror. Snape wouldn't accept Harry into his NEWT classes now, and without Potions he could never fulfill his dream. How, Harry wondered as Sirius served steaming hot pancakes onto plates, was he ever going to defeat Voldermort if he couldn't join the people who's job it was to find and kill Voldermort?

The rest of the day was incredibly strange. All the Scoobies had been happy at his, Ron, and Hermione's success, Willow and Tara especially. But after "Congratulations", lots of hugging and hand shaking had been exchanged, everyone had disappeared. Even Sirius, Ron, and Hermione had vanished, stating they had "stuff to do." Harry ended up at the Magic Shop where Anya and Giles were working. Harry liked both of them. Giles was nice and sort of reminded him of Dumbledore. Anya was hilarious. She was cheery, blunt, and bold all the time. She told the Trio stories that had Ron and Harry rolling around on the ground, laughing with tears in their eyes, and Hermione torn between amusement and disapproval.

The shop was bustling with people on the hot summer day. The tinkling of the little bell rang through Harry's ears and people moved in and out of his vision. Harry felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see Anya standing over him.

"Giles wants you to sort through these books," she said.

"Okay," Harry agreed."What does he want me to do?"

"Well sort them into different language, general spells, and beginner, medium, and advanced. And alphabetize them by author and if you can't find the author, by title. Giles also says to ask him if you have any questions." Harry nodded and Anya walked off. He began to sift through the dusty volumes. Harry worked for over an hour and as he worked he began to pick up some of the books and read through them. Harry hadn't ever really liked books, but with Willow's and Tara's tutoring he had a new found appreciation for them. Harry saw some interesting, crazy, and even some plain disgusting spells. When he was picking up one of the last books, Harry noticed that it didn't look like a spell book. He rifled through it and noticed that it was handwritten. Harry couldn't make out the handwriting, but it looked like some kind of journal. Suddenly several pages fell out. Harry picked them up. They were blank and shiny, not looking like they had come out of the dusty-leather bound volume. Harry inspected then. There was not a single mark on any of then. Harry had learned to be careful around blank pages, but he stuffed them into his pocket. Harry picked up the book and carried them over to Giles.

"Mr. Giles," he said and Giles turned around. "I found this," he held up the journal, "in the stack of books you had me sorting and it didn't look like the others."

Giles plucked the book out of his hands and thumbed through it. "You're quite right Harry," Giles said. "I have no idea how that got in there. Are you almost done?"

"Yeah," Harry said.

"Excellent," Giles stated and he turned back to a rather plump woman who was holding something shriveled and a candle. Harry walked back to the table. He wondered why he hadn't showed the paper to Giles. As he sorted through the last few books, Harry felt like the papers in his pockets were weighing him down. It'll be all right, he thought. I'll just ask Hermione if she has any ideas about what they are. No harm can come of it.

* * *

Faith stalked through the cemetery in a foul mood. It was the middle of the day and she didn't expect to see any demons at all. But everyone was out of the house and she needed to hit something. Faith knew that this kind of attitude was one of the reasons she got in into all that shit in the first place. Since her revelation in the graveyard, she had gone out of her way to avoid Sirius. But he seemed to be everywhere. Smiling, laughing, joking, always with the Scoobies. Faith tried to pretend her heart didn't flutter and she didn't wish he would touch her every time she saw him. This put a grim expression on her face and a dampen in her attitude. Sirius had remarked several times in his all bark but no bite way that Faith seemed to have become a grumpy-puss lately. Incidents like this had Faith out searching with demons, which was why she was out here today. However, Sirius had started acting strange too. He would glance at her when he was talking just to see if she was listening. He made other flirty remarks to her and found excuses to put his hands on her. Faith attempted not to notice his actions, but simply couldn't. She had given herself the same talk she had given herself in the graveyard, but it seemed to be having less and less effect on her. She was confused and Faith hated being confused.

"Damn!" she yelled and thumped her fist against a tree trunk. The tree chuckled. Faith stared at it for a few seconds in complete shock. Then she saw something move behind the tree trunk. Faith slowly moved around the oak and came face to face with...Sirius!

"Faithy, hurting trees will get you nowhere. Sometimes the tree can even attack you back," he joked. Faith growled and made to turn away, but he grabbed her wrist. She gave him her best glare and he dropped her wrist like it was a flaming hot poker.

"Faith I've wanted to talk to you..." he started but she cut him off.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Well I finished getting stuff for the big event tomorrow... and Ron is with Dawn, Hermione is with Cordelia, Buffy, Willow, and Tara are still shopping, Xander, Anya, and Giles are working, and Giles just called to tell that Harry is at the Magic Shop," he explained.

"So you decided to stalk me?" Faith said, her voice dripping with menace.

"No, I decided to go on a nice walk in big, creepy cemetery in the day time," he said, his British accent full of sarcasm. "Of course you stupid girl, I decided to follow you."

Faith was speechless. First, he had just called her stupid. And second, he had decided to follow her. What was going on?

"So what do you want?" she said in a softer voice.

"I wanted to talk to you," he said. He moved over to her and his voice lost the usual joking manner. "Faith, I care about you. When I came here I was broken. But you made me better. With your sarcasm, wit, and 'I'm such a bloody rebel' attitude. But underneath all that you were vulnerable. You'd been through more than even I had. I wanted to protect you..." he said, but Faith interrupted him again.

"Why would you want to protect me?" she yelled. "I'm a murderer, remember? I'm wrong, messed-up. And you're a good person. How could someone like you ever care about a sicko like me?"

"I was in prison for twelve years and on the run for two. Everyone I had ever known hated me and I had as good as killed two of my best friends," he said in a voice of disbelief.

"But you didn't do actually kill them!" she yelled. "You didn't actually do anything wrong. I have innocent blood on my hands, Sirius! I'm a disgusting, murderous, bitch!"  
At the point he grabbed her and pulled him to her. Sirius pressed his lips to hers. He slowly moved his soft lips against her red ones. Faith gasped. It was like a scene from one of thos stupid, cheesy romance novels Dawn loved. Fireworks and her wishing Sirius would never let her go. It wasn't the kisses Faith was used to. Not a grasping, seeing who had the most power, all about sex kiss. No, it was gentle, sweet, and tender. He tasted fresh, tangy, and musky, not like the men Faith usually kissed who tasted like sweat, beer, and cigarettes. Her hands tangled in his hair to pull him closer as his hands ran up and down her back. His tongue slid carefully into her mouth and she welcomed it with her own. He made low noise in his throat, part moan, part groan. Faith gave a little smile. Several minutes later they broke apart. Faith's breathing was normal, but Sirius was panting. Nevertheless, he gave her a dazzling smile.

"So will you go out with me?" he asked.

"I don't do that!" she said. "I hook-up, have sex, and move on. Flowers, candle-lit dinners, romantic walks across the beach...not familiar territory for me."

"Trust me, if you got out with me, it will not be normal. Give me a chance Faithy?" he said playfully.

"No," she conceded with a wicked smile. "And don't call me Faithy."

He gave her a grin as evil as her own. "You've met your match, Faithy. I'm going to catch you and I'm not going to give up, no matter how long it takes."

She stared at him for a few moments, before saying in a voice that usually reduced men to a shivering heap, "Try." And Faith took off running.

She heard his laugh behind her and his pursuit. Turning a corner, she saw a big, spikey, purple demon.

"It's your lucky day bastard," she said, advancing towards her pray and listening for Sirius behind her.

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Harry was completely and utterly bewildered. For the past three days everyone had been avoiding him. Not in a we-are-scared-of-you way or we-extremely-dislike-you way. Harry had plenty of that in the last few years and he knew exactly what it looked like. But this was more of a we-have-a-secret-we-can't-tell-you way. Even Ron and Hermione were stayong away from him. And no one had let him into the Summers house in the past few days. Harry walked upstairs. He had just spent the day wondering around Sunnydale. He'd been past the old-blown up high school several times. Upstairs he saw Ron and Hermione sitting on his bed. Pig and Hedwig were asleep in there cages. They had both just flown to Britain, Pig delivering the results of Ron's O.W.L's to the Weasleys, and Hedwig delivering Hermione's results to her parents. Crookshanks was curled up on Hermione's lap, watching Harry with his golden eyes.

"Have you decided to stop avoiding me?" Harry asked. He knew he sounded harsh, but he wasn't very happy with how he had been treated.

Ron's face fell. "It wasn't out choice mate. They told us to," he said sheepishly.  
"We're sorry, Harry," Hermione implored. Harry remembered a similar situation last summer when they had been apologizing. He face broke into a grin.

"If it's about another secret dark wizard fighting group, I will not be happy," he warned. They laughed.

"Don't be stupid," Hermione said. "It's much more mundane than that."

"It's not that mundane Hermione," Ron argued. "They've all spent ages on it-" He broke off when Hermione sent him a warning look.

"We've just come to hang out," she said.

Harry sat down and lost himself in conversation. They talked about many things: school last year, their O.W.L's, what they thought everyone was doing back in Britain, the Scoobies, and much more. He and Ron were slightly alarmed by the fact Hermione was spending time with Spike, until she told to stop being so idiotic. Harry noticed Ron's ears go red when he talked about Dawn. They wondered about Sirius's and Faith's strange behavior towards each other. Harry didn't notice the sun dipping lower until he looked out the window and saw the sky was a pinkish blue. Hermione glanced at her watch and gasped.

"Oh no, we're late!" she shrieked and quickly got to her feet, dragging Harry and Ron up with her.

"Late for what?" Harry asked.

"Giles has come across some creepy prophecy and he thinks it might have something to do with us." Hermione said vaguely. "Right Ron?"

"Huh?" Ron said, looking up. As if in response to Hermione's furious look he said, "Oh yeah. That's why and we have to go over there now."

Harry shook his head. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were possessed. You're both acting very weird," he told them. They quickly walked over to the Summers. But when they reached the door, Harry heard a yell and the sounds of fighting. He grabbed Ron and Hermione and pulled them into the house. It was completely dark, but Harry could hear noise coming from the backyard. He rushed through the house, Ron and Hermione at his heels. They burst out the back door and Harry saw everyone smiling. They were all there, even Spike. Coloured streamers were hanging from the trees and there were two tables, one laden with food and table settings, the other with presents.

"Surprise!" everyone yelled. Harry turned around to look at Ron and Hermione.  
"Did you have anything to do with this?" he asked. They nodded. Harry felt a huge grin split across his face.

"Wow everyone. Thanks," he said.  
"Well Ron and Hermione said that you'd never had a real birthday party, so we decided to fix that," Dawn said, hugging him. "Did you even remember that it was your birthday?" Harry shook his head. With everything happening, he had completely forgotten. He was sixteen.

"We have to warn you, Scooby parties often result in bad icky demons," Buffy said, giving Harry a quick hug. Harry looked around. It was wonderful. Then Harry saw someone he had not expected to see. Lupin was standing next to Sirius. His robes were looking even shabbier and there were more grey hairs in his head than the last time Harry had seen him, but he was smiling. Harry ran and hugged him.

"Hello Harry," Lupin said.  
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Sirius decided that it would be good to have me here for your birthday. He was quite persuasive about the idea." Lupin said.

"Course I did," Sirius said, stepping next to Lupin. "I always could get Remus to listen to me." Harry laughed.  
"So party time now," Buffy said.  
"I'm doing the music," Dawn yelled.

"No way. You have an atrocious taste in music," Buffy replied. Dawn stuck out her tongue at Buffy.

"Spike," Willow said, in a strange voice. "It's still kinda of sunny and you're not going all flamey."

Spike laughed. "'Mione here," he said pointing to Hermione. "sent a letter to a professor at her school. He sent me this." Spike held up his wrist to reveal a small silver manly chain on his wrist. "It keeps me safe from the sun. Not direct sunlight or the daytime sun, but evening and dawn are fine. It's bloody wonderful."  
"Wow, I didn't think that was possible. I wonder how he did it," Giles said intrigued.

"I dunno," Spike shrugged. "Ask Hermy, she knows far more about it. Taught me how to use it." Hermione blushed. "It's just a basic anti-flaming spell I think with a few basic touches so it works on a living creature," she told Giles.

"Fascinating," he muttered. Buffy got up and put a CD into the stereo. Everyone just mingled. Harry found himself sitting on the bench, watching his friends. Tara came up and sat beside him.

"So what do you think?" she asked.  
"It's great," he grinned. "I've never actually spent my birthday with people I cared about.

Tara looked at him with a strange expression. "I spent my childhood much like yours," she said quietly. "After my mother died, my father was...abusive. He hurt me, threatened me, and tried to keep me with him forever. The day I got accepted to UC Sunnydale was the happiest day of my life. I could escape my family. Two years ago, on my birthday, he came to Sunnydale and tried to make me go with him. The Scoobies saved me. They are my family and I never looked back at my father, brother, or cousin ever again. That birthday was the first one I'd had where I knew that I was loved and content."

"Same. The day I got accepted to Hogwarts was the best day of my life," Harry said. Tara squeezed his hand.

"The Scoobies have a way of accepting people and making them feel care for, no matter their past. And usually they have the right idea about people. Remember that," she said. Harry nodded.  
"Food time!" Buffy yelled. Harry walked over to the table which had a a bright yellow plastic tablecloth on it and rainbow plates and cups. Xander was making hot dogs and burgers on the grill and there was a huge array of soda bottles. There was a cake on the table. It was chocolate with white, vanilla icing on top and read it fancy, loopy cursive _Happy 16__th__ Birthday Harry. _  
"Who made the cake?" Harry asked.

"Buffy picked it up at a shop," Dawn said and Buffy glared at her. Soon they were all seated around the table. Everyone had plates laden with food, except for Spike who had a huge cup of blood which he was sipping from a straw. After much eating, they all sung 'Happy Birthday'. Harry savored the cake. It's chocolatey flavor was rich and succulent in his mouth, and the frosting was sugary sweet.

Then it was time for presents. Cordelia had bought him a gift-card to some guy's clothing shop with strict orders that he wasn't allowed to use it unless she was with him. Willow and Tara gave him a Wiccan spell book and some special supplies including crystals. Xander had bought him a Hawaiian shirt which made Cordelia blanch and Anya had gotten him the Game of Life. Spike had gave him a lighter and Faith handed Harry a small, sharp dagger both of which had Giles shaking his head. Giles himself had bought Harry a new nice glasses case which came with a cleaning rag. Buffy gave him a cross and two bars of chocolate and Dawn had presented him with a pair of black sneakers. From Ron, Harry received a box of treacle tarts. Hermione gave him a heavy package which turned out to be a new and revised version of _Quidditch Through the Ages. _ Sirius gave Harry a year's subscription to _Brooms, Brains, and Brawn, _a Quidditch magazine. Lupin gave Harry a picture of Sirius, him, and Harry's father. Sirius and James were both in their Gryffindor team uniforms and they were all smiling. Harry's heart felt so full. He thanked everyone as much as he could. Harry noticed that Faith and Sirius were acting closer to each other. Harry didn't mind. For all her attitude, he liked Faith.

Harry decided to carry his presents back into the house, ignoring the other's offers to help him. Harry brought the presents into his room and lay them down on the bed. As he turned to go, Harry's hand brushed something on his dresser. Harry looked down and saw the pages that he taken from the book he had handed to Giles. Suddenly he remembered a spell Willow and Tara had taught him, a spell to reveal an object's secrets. Closing his eyes, Harry concentrated hard and slowly recited the incantation he had been taught. Harry opened his eyes and stared at the paper in amazement. Words were slowly spreading across the pages like a spider was scuttling across them.

_**Watcher's Council** **Report**_, it read,**_ on the Rogue Slayer Faith_. **Harry stared at the paper in disbelief. As he read on the words began to swim before his eyes. **_Accomplice, Dark, Threats, Insane, Murder, Torture, Imprisonment_...**Harry felt his blood begin to boil.

"Harry?" he heard Hermione call. He saw Hermione and Ron appear beside him. Wordlessly, Harry held up the pages. They read them and turned their shocked faces to look at Harry. But Harry barely saw them. All he saw, behind his eyelids, was Faith laughing a sadistic, evil laugh as she looked down at Sirius who was laying at her feet, covered in blood. Harry watched as the Dark Slayer raised a long, glinting knife and plunged it into his godfather's heart. Harry yelled and his eyes snapped open. Harry felt a hatred stronger than he had ever felt before. Stronger than the hate he had felt for Sirius when he thought Sirius was evil, stronger than the hate he felt for Bellatrix Lestrange, stronger even than the hate he felt for Voldermort. He looked up into Ron and Hermione's terrified stares and declared in a deadly calm voice, "I'll kill her before she even touches him."

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**A/N: **Nice little cliffie there for y'all. I will try to update soon. Réexaminer s'il vous plaît (review please in French.)


	14. Chapter 13: Monstrous Phantoms

**A/N:** This chapter was actually really fun to write. Sorry for the shortness, but I didn't want to ruin the impact with long explanation. Much longer chapter will be up hopefully soon. Hope you like.

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Chapter 13: Monstrous Phantoms

Harry ran down the stairs, Hermione and Ron following him.

"I can't believe this," Hermione said. "Why would they lie to us? How is this keeping us safe? How is this keeping **you **safe?" She gestured to Harry. "You're supposedly the Chosen One and Sirius has stuck us here with a murderer. It doesn't make any sense."

"Who cares Hermione?" Ron said. "Obviously Faith's a maniac."

"Yeah," Harry added. "And I'm not going to let her touch Sirius. Why would he do this? Why must he always be such a bloody risk taker?" He threw the door open and heard the huge bang it made against the wall. They sprinted into the yard. Harry was sprinting through the yard, toward the Summer's house. He burst upon them, Ron and Hermione behind him. They all had their wands out. The Scoobie's shocked faces looked up at him, but Harry didn't care. He was heading for the murderer who was standing right next to his godfather. Faith turned round to look at him and Harry felt that huge surge of rage again.

"Get away from him!" he spat at her, pointing his wand at the Slayer's throat

"Harry what are you doing?" Sirius asked. Harry spun around to face him.

"How could you lie to us?!" he yelled. "You must of known what she was. She's a murderer and torturer. She belongs with the Death-Eaters and Voldemort.!"

"Harry-" Buffy started, but Harry shouted at her too. "And all of you, you let us be with her. You kept the truth from us. She could of killed any of us!"

"Well done, kid," Faith said. He turned to look at her and saw the bitter expression on her face. "So how'd you figure out my secret? Did you do some kind of spell?"

Harry glared at her. "Something like that," he hissed.

"Harry listen to me. Faith's not evil. She has done some bad things, yes, but she's not bad. She's not like the Death-Eaters. She feels remorse."

"Harry put your wand down. We don't want anyone getting hurt," Lupin said, softly.

Harry spun around ready to scream at Lupin too, but Hermione got there first.  
"How you can you say that?" she shrieked. "She's a murderer! Imagine what Dumbledore would say if he heard that you had Harry staying next to a known killer. It isn't safe!"

"Faith is not evil and I'd be the first one to say if she was," Buffy yelled. "Calm down and listen to us!"

"NO!" Harry yelled."We're not children and I'm sick of being told I don't understand. I keeping on saving you!" He directed the last bit at Sirius who looked ghostly pale. "From the Dementors, the Ministry, and last year in the Department of Mysteries. But you always like to be a risk-taker. You're supposed to be the responsible one, my guardian. I don't see that anywhere!"

"Harry you must believe me. I am right about this," Sirius began. Harry gave a high mirthless laugh.

"Of course, because anyone can be reformed. Evil is evil, Sirius. It's always there."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Willow's expression become broken and he felt a pang in his gut, but he ignored it.  
"Sirius, get out of the way. If you won't get rid of her, we will. I'm not going to let you almost die again," Harry said and he saw Hermione and Ron nodding along with his words.

Sirius looked horrified, but he didn't move from his position in front of Faith.  
"Sirius, move," Faith hissed. "I can protect myself and they're only three teenagers with sticks."

"You don't understand..." Sirius began, but suddenly his face became terrified. "No," he whispered. And suddenly Harry realized what had made Sirius look so haunted again. An unnatural cold was falling over the warm summer night, and it was going black. The street lights flickered and the stars seemed to be blinking out of existence. And Harry felt the chill seeping into his bones, spreading it's icy fingers over his skin. Along with it came that familiar, awful feeling of dread. Then Harry saw them and there were more than he had ever seen in his life. More even than that time with Sirius by the lake. Their black, tattered robes drifted through the sky completely inhuman. Their rotting corpse stink filled Harry's noise and he felt his stomach heave. They were like monstrous phantoms bringing a message of death.

Harry looked around and saw that Sirius and Lupin had their wands out, but the Scoobies were looking around, totally clueless, except for Spike. His face had gone slack and the usually cocky attitude had gone. Then they started falling around him. All the Scoobies seemed to have fainted, but Buffy and Faith were having a silent fits, Spike's hands were clutching his forehead, Willow was shivering uncontrollably , and Cordelia was screaming. Harry had never seen reactions so like his to the Dementors, but suddenly one was upon him. Harry tried to grab his wand, but his arms felt like they were made of lead. The white fog began to obscure his vision and his mother's screaming voice was filling his head. But there was more now. Yells and shrieks, but blurry pictures too as if someone couldn't quite get the right focus. Cedric's dead body, Voldemort rising out of his cauldron, Sirius's face looking like it had beaten so badly...and his mother's body lying motionless on the floor. Harry knew he was yelling, but he could stop. This was hell. Pure and simple hell. He had never suffered so much in his life, even when Voldemort had tried to take possession of him.

Abruptly it all began to seep away. Harry's vision came back and the screams disappeared. He opened his eyes to briefly see Ron and Hermione's anxious faces. Then he blacked out.

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**A/N: **Review please and make me think this chapter isn't awful. :)


	15. Chapter 14: Fighting for Nothing

**A/N: **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series belong to Joss Whedon and Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm sorry it took me so long to update. This chapter was really, really, really hard to write (more explaining at the end of the chapter.) Also, this is going to be the last chapter for a while, because I'm going on vacation for three weeks with limited Internet access, so enjoy!

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Chapter 14: Fighting for Nothing

Sirius Black was in shock. Everything had been going brilliant. Then Harry had showed up with that crazed look in his eyes. The look that reminded Sirius so much of Voldemort. Harry had tried to kill Faith. He had wanted to kill her. And all because he thought Faith was going to kill Sirius. Then the Dementors had shown up. Sirius had felt the cold, drowning darkness. But he had seen Faith and Harry writhing on the ground, in silent fits of agony. That had made Sirius furious. No one was going to hurt them. So for the first time in fifteen years, Sirius had driven the foul creatures away. Moony had also conjured his Patronus. They were all gone. Driven back in to the blackness. And Sirius felt himself torn between running over to Faith or rushing to Harry. So, he just stood there, looking, he suspected, like an idiot. He saw Ron and Hermione rise shakily to their feet and run to Harry's side. Sirius Black slowly crept over to Faith. Her eyes were open and a look of terror was upon her usually cocky face.

"Hey Faithy, you okay?" he asked, grabbing her hand.

She took a deep shaky breath and glared at him. "Oh I'm five by five. Except for the fact that I had to relive the worst memories of my life, and I felt like I was fucking drowning, and these huge, giant, creepy things descended on us. And also the fact I'm really, really pissed at your godson and his cronies. But other than that, I'm fine."

"Faith..." he began, but she cut him off.

"How did you expect him to react? That kid sees things in black and white, and I'm not exactly a saint, like B. Hell, I'm a murderer. And then he realizes that you have a serious horny problem when it come to me, and he goes insane. Which we should of realized first, Sirius. 'Cause believe or not, I actually have feelings for you. Wow that's weird."

Sirius gave her a small smile. Just as he was bending down to kiss her, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Sirius turned around and felt a fist connect with his nose. He heard the bone crack and felt warm liquid gushing over his face. He stumbled back and Faith caught him. Through pain-filled eyes, Sirius saw Harry's face screwed up in pain.  
"I hate you!" he heard his godson yell and then Harry ran.

"Harry! Harry!" Sirius called, stumbling up and looking around. He saw Harry disappear around the corner and he began to run. Sirius ran and ran, but he felt faint and the blood clouded his vision. He heard voices, screaming behind him, but Sirius was completely focused on his godson. He had to find Harry. He had to. Suddenly arms enclosed him. Sirius fought against them, but the arms were steel traps and Sirius felt his strength fading. Eventually he sagged against the arms and let himself be led back into the house.

Inside Sirius sat silently. He distantly heard Moony explaining Dementors to the shock and outrage of the Scoobies. Faith stood near him, half listening. She kept on glancing at him, but Sirius ignored her. Ron and Hermione were sitting together. Ron looked furious and Hermione's eyes were red, but she seemed to be pleading with him. Sirius felt his temper rise up. He knew he shouldn't. He felt every bone in his body screaming at him to stop. But he couldn't. The infamous Black temper had never been possible to control. And suddenly he was screaming.

"Why are we just sitting here?" he yelled, shocking everyone. "Harry could be dying! He could be dead! He's only sixteen!"

"Well it's your fault isn't it?" Ron shouted back. "If you hadn't started shagging her," Ron said, pointing at Faith. "None of this would of happened."

"Ron, it's not really Sirius's fault," Hermione pleaded with him. Sirius felt relieved, but then she turned on him. "How could you not tell us? How? Your Harry's godfather! It's your responsibility to take care of him."

"Really Sirius," Tara said quietly. "Harry is an amazing child and he loves you very much. But you should know not to keep things from him. You were his father's best friend."

"James would of hated you keeping secrets from him. Of course Harry feels the same way, Padfoot. It was lunacy to think he wouldn't," Lupin told him. Sirius whipped around. They were all glaring at him.

"Why is this my fault?"

"Because it is," Buffy said. Sirius turned to look at her. "You are Harry's family. You don't keep secrets from your family. Believe me, I know how wrong that turns out."

Sirius was about to reply, when Willow stood up. "STOP IT!" she yelled. They all turned to look at her. "This isn't helping Harry," she said. "We need to get together and try to find him instead of fighting among ourselves."

"Okay," Buffy said. "We need to organize teams and gather weapons." Soon they were in a flurry of activity. Sirius got paired with Cordelia and Spike. Faith was with Xander, Anya, and Lupin. Buffy was with Ron and Dawn and Hermione was with Willow and Tara. Sirius had his wand and short dagger, Cordelia carried a stake and a thin sword, and Spike had his fangs and an axe. They set out and split up. Spike was using his vampire senses to try and locate Harry, with Sirius and Cordelia flanking him. They were all tense and Sirius found himself growing increasingly worried about his godson, as they kept on coming up with nothing.

Sirius knew he loved Harry. Harry was his best friend's son. He'd promised Lily and James that he'd look after Harry if anything happened to them. Not that Sirius had expected anything. Even in a time of war, Sirius hadn't dreamed that anything would happen to his friends. He'd been young and cocky and stupid. He'd ended up being arrested, instead of caring for his godson. And now fifteen years later, he'd forgotten what really mattered again. He'd forgotten the only family he had left in pursuit of something different. Just like fifteen years ago and he was being punished for it.

_Please, please let him be all right, _Sirius pleaded silently. Then Spike yelled and began to run. Sirius and Cordelia quickly followed. They ran for ages. Sirius felt his lungs burning and his breath coming in short pants, but he couldn't stop. Then Spike came to an abrupt halt. Sirius almost crashed into him. He saw Harry lying to the ground. At first, Sirius felt a wave of relief that his godson was all right, but it was quickly replaced by shock. Harry's glasses were lying beside him, broken in two. And then Sirius noticed the marks on his godson's skin. He was covered in bumpy warts, there were strange ridges in his face, and two red marks stretched across his hollowed cheeks. Spike and Cordelia were both staring down at Harry, with looks of shock on their faces.

"No, no, no," Cordelia was muttering.

"Cordy what is it?" Sirius shouted. "What's wrong with him?"  
Cordelia turned her stricken eyes to Sirius. "We need Angel," she told him.

"Why?" Sirius yelled.

"Because Harry's been possessed by an Ethros demon," Cordelia said. She looked as if she was trying not to cry.

"What's an Ethros demon?" Sirius asked, frantic.

Cordelia looked at him and the pain on her face made Sirius terrified. "A corrupter of souls," Cordelia replied and Sirius felt his heart stutter.

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**A/N: **Explainy time: this chapter was a bitch to write. I tried it many different ways. I tried having a big explanation time and having everything be forgiven which was probably the worst piece of writing I've ever done. I tried having Voldemort, a Death Eater, or a scary demon show up. None of it worked. Then I remembered the "I've Got You Under My Skin" episode of Angel. That episode terrified me when I first saw it. So I decided to bring the Ethros in to expose everyone's fears and insecurities to the others. I know this had been done a lot in the TV series and books, but not to each other. So the next few chapters is going to have Angel showing up, lots of crying and confessions, and a potentially hilarious scene with a very dead character (who I happen to love.) One question: The Ethros is going to try and expose everyone's fears so do you want me to keep it from one person's point of view (if one person then who), or switch between everyone?

Please, please review with Sirius on top :) and answer my question.


	16. Chapter 15: Unspoken Fears

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel: the Series, or Harry Potter.

**A/N: **I am so, so, so sorry it has taken me so long. Real life took over and I had no time for writing. But here it a brand new, shiny chapter in all it's glory. Hope you likey.

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Chapter 15: Unspoken Fears

Sirius walked back to the Summer's house silently. Spike was carrying Harry or the thing that looked like Harry. Cordelia was jabbering away on her cell phone (at least that was what he thought it was called), shouting commands. The Scoobies were all ready there, and they went into, as Xander referred to it as, "Apocalypse mode." Once inside Cordelia took control. She told them to lay Harry on the couch and she had Willow and Tara do some kind of ritual, spreading sand in a circle around the couch.

Then she sat them all down and gave them a warning, "Ethros demons can skim people's minds. They pray on your fears and weaknesses. Remember, the thing on that couch is not Harry. Angel is arriving soon and then we'll be able to contain the demon. Until then, stay away from that couch. We can have two people on watch. Do not cross that circle. If you do it will kill you."

With those somber words, Spike and Hermione volunteered to be on watch. Sirius stumbled upstairs and collapsed on the bed. He hadn't spoken the whole time and Sirius knew he was in some kind of stupor. He couldn't stop the mantra in his head which whispered, _"It's all your fault," _ over and over . Sirius spent the rest of the night shivering, hearing those words repeated again and again, _"It's all your fault. It's all your fault. It's all your fault..."_

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_Helpless, Spike watched Hermione sit at the dining room table, her head in her hands. From her huddle came strangled noises, horrible and heart breaking. Spike felt like he was going mad. Eventually he got up and moved over to the kettle, setting it whistling. Afterward he sat down at the table and slowly pushed the tea over to Hermione. She rose her head, her face ashen, and red rimmed eyes stared at him.

"Here," he whispered, handing her the cup. She stared at it for several seconds before raising it to her lips.

"Thank you," she muttered and he nodded. They sat in silence as she finished her tea, until she spoke up.

"You know, for someone who once one of the most feared vampires in the world, you're a bit of a softy."

Spike bristled, but it was good to see a spark back in her eyes.

"And why do you think that, pet?" he asked her.

She stared back at him, a challenge in her eyes. "You comforted me after what Ron did. You look after Dawn. You brought flowers for Buffy's mom. And I know someone who makes wicked hot chocolate."

Spike gave her a cocky grin. However he felt touched. Maybe she didn't think he was a monster after all.

"Where'd you find this all out, luv?" he questioned.

"I asked around. I observe. I may not be the most open minded person, but I am very clever."

"Is that right?" he asked her, scooting his chair a little closer.

"Well so my teachers, Ron, Harry, and basically everyone else I know says," she said, but there was a hint of resentment in her voice.

"Hermy, what is it?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to begin, but a voice deep and gravelly came reverberated through the room.

"Are afraid to tell him Hermione? Scared for him to find out what a friendless loser you were until Harry and Ron decided to take you under their wing? How insecure you are? What a little brat you still are?"  
Hermione's face turned white and she was shaking. Spike peeked into the living room and saw the thing wearing Harry's face talking, with eyes as yellow as his own in demon form.

Then the thing took on someone else's voice. "Where's the Hermione who was an absolute stickler for the rules and prude in our first year? Where's the most intelligent girl in our year? Next thing we know your going to turn into some stupid tart!" and Spike recognized it to be Ron's. Hermione was gripping his arm he knew that if blood was actually running through his veins she would of cut off the circulation.

"Hermy, it's going to be all right. That's not-" but Spike was cut off by thing the talking again this time in Buffy's voice.

"You're beneath me," and Spike sucked in a breath that he did not need. The words still stung four years years later. "Oh, Spike," the creature said, reverting back to its normal voice. "She would have been so ashamed to see you now. Even more ashamed then she was before," the speech is suddenly whimsical and fey. "Poor Spike...so lost. Even I can't help you now." Spike stiffened.

"Hermy, go wake the others," he whispered and she nodded and left, but as Hermione headed up the stairs.

"Harboring feelings for a little girl? So sad. Buffy noticed, remember? And then she beat you into a nice pulp. So like your grandsire." Hermione turned shocked eyes to him, but Spike gestured to her for her to run, shame washing over him like a riptide.

Then he turned back to endure the rest of the monster's torment

* * *

Buffy felt someone shaking her and she looked up to see Xander standing over her.

"Buffster, you got to get up."

"Xander, leave me alone," Buffy murmured, pulling the covers over her head.

"Buffy, the thing that's in Harry has woken up," Xander yelled at her, an unusual urgency in his voice.

Buffy bolted up and looked at him, her eyes wide. "What's it doing?" she asked.

"Just talking, but Hermione came up to warn us and she was terrified."

Buffy leaped out of bed and moved to her weapons trunk. Thrusting it open, she grabbed one of her favorite shiny weapons out of it. A beautiful battle ax, sharp and lethal. Buffy swung it around a few times, feeling it's weight.

"Uh, Buffy," Xander interjected. "You know you can't kill the thing without Harry right"

"Yeah I do," she said, before looking at him with a cold smile. "But lots of things talk when there's something sharp and shiny in the room."

They thundered down the stairs and saw everyone else waiting in the living room. Xander immediately made his way over to Anya, even though she looked the least scared out of all of them. Faith and Remus were basically holding Sirius upright, but his eyes were blank, with no emotion inside of them. Giles sat with Dawn, the former half shielding the latter with his body, while Willow and Tara sat near by. Cordelia and Spike were standing next to Ron and Hermione, and Cordelia had a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Spike, what's going on?" Buffy asked, instantly alert from the tension she could feel in the room.

"Bloody thing can get into you head," Spike muttered gruffly. "Pick things out of it."

"Right," Buffy said. "Everyone brace yourselves," but abruptly a low, grating voice interrupted her.

"Oh pretty, little slayer," it growled. "Pretending to be so strong, but you're not are you?" And then it was her voice coming from the creature's mouth, sounding pitiful and weak, "Mommy? Mommy?" the thing whispered and Buffy was thrust back to the worst memory of her life. She swayed and almost fell, but regained her composure. However, the demon had moved on. To Cordelia.

"You never tell them will you. Your dirty little secret? How you're exactly like him," the creature's whispers and then it's talking in a man's voice with an Irish brogue. "Guess we'll never know if this is a face you could learn to love. Princess, princess, princess." Out of the blue, the grating voice is back, taunting, "Haven't told them how much it hurts for Spike to call you that? Ah well, you've got so many secrets, haven't you Seer? Like who and what you really are."

"You can't hurt me," Cordelia hissed. "I'm the Queen C."

"Oh really? What about what else you are. Let me tell them. You see, Cordy, here is a half-demon." There was a stunned silence, and Buffy along with everyone else turned to look at Cordelia.

"Cordy is that true?" Hermione asked.

Cordelia looked at Hermione fixing her with those piercing brown eyes, which Buffy once remembered at being so vapid. "Yes it is. The visions are only meant for demons. Being half-demon stops my brain deteriorating. Otherwise I'd die. And it was working, until I came here and that stupid spell from hell came through the vision. "

"You lied to me," Hermione said and Buffy could see that the teenager felt betrayed.

"Yeah I did. But, Hermione, I couldn't tell you," Cordelia said, reaching out to the girl.

"Just don't," Hermione said and Buffy watched as she dragged Ron over to the other side of the room.

The monster on the couch gave a dark chuckle. "You humans are so weak, letting you emotions take the better of you. Let's see who should I prey on next." It's inhuman, yellow eyes swiveled around the room, before resting on the one person who Buffy had sacrificed everything for, because she loved that person so much.

"Slayer's little sister. So broken. And such a nuisance. Even after all they've done for you, you're still a pain." Dawn was shaking and Buffy felt the urge to run and comfort her.

"Bet they never told you what was in your sister's mind, in some of her dreams. She wanted to kill you. She did over and over again. But instead she killed herself. So sad. All because of you."

"Leave her alone," Faith growled, moving in front of the teenager.

The demon's eyes fixated on her. "The Rogue Slayer. The darkness in your mind is so delicious. Always wishing you could change. Thought you'd of learned by now that you can't change." And the thing took on Mayor Wilkin's villainous voice. "But the problem, Faith, is that, uh, there won't be a place in the world for you anymore. Right now I bet you're feeling very much alone." Buffy looks over at Faith and sees that she has a determined look on her face, as if she's trying to block the demon's words of hate from her ears.

"But Faith, you'll always be alone. You're not good enough for anyone. Not your mom, Buffy, the Scoobies, Wesley...or Sirius. You're just worthless trash."

"Okay that's enough, mister. Leave us alone and be quiet," and they all watched in surprise as Willow stared down the creature. For several seconds it just looked at her. Then it laughed.

"Oh, the Dark One. I should be scared shouldn't I? But now you're all bound up like a good little girl. Trying to forget. But all that power is singing to come out. And one day it will."

"Don't talk to her," Tara said, in a voice so full of strength, Buffy was pretty sure everyone else in the room was as shocked as she was. The demon swung it's gaze to the witch and stared, before it's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement.

"Well you're a strange one. Hiding from your power from the world. And you've never touched the darkness. You're so pure. Like the poor boy I've possessed. Except he has touched it, but the goodness in him still shines through. I'm going to have fun twisting his soul. Already am, in fact."

And then, a hollow voice spoke from the back of the room. "Don't you dare touch him."

The demon searched the darkness and it's face lit up with pure glee. "Ah, the godfather. But you're so weak. Let's see what happens if I try this," and for the first time, the demon put on Harry's voice.

"Sirius? Sirius? Please, Sirius? What's going on? It's so dark and my parents are there. They're dying again Sirius. Help me. Please, please, please. I need you."

Buffy could barely breathe and there were tears in her eyes. Maybe that was why when Sirius lunged, she couldn't stop him. Neither could Faith or Remus. Sirius was unexpectedly on the couch, with his arms around Harry's body. Then the demon had it's hands on Sirius throat and Sirius choking. Without warning, something charged the couch, grabbing Sirius off the boy's body and pressing a cross in the demon's face. Faith and Remus ran over to Sirius, but Buffy's eyes were on the figure, who was slowly standing up, his hand red from the cross's burns.

Angel looked at everyone in the room and in that slightly joking, but still serious way of his, "Hello everyone. Hope I'm not too late," and Buffy had never been happier to see her ex.

* * *

This chapter was really supposed to be much longer, but it seemed right to stop it here. This means that the character who is one of my favorites (and also dead) never showed up. But he will next chapter. Promise! And the next chapter will be up soon. And I really mean it this time. But if you want it to come even faster, please go hit that little review button, because as with many fanfiction authors, reviews make me write faster


	17. 16: Rituals, Guilt, and A Visitor

**A/N: **First a couple of announcements: 1. I have put a poll asking your favorite thing about this story, so please go and vote, because I would really appreciate the feedback. 2. I just published a new story on this site called "Forgotten Warmth" and it's an angsty Glee/Buffy X-over. If any of you are interested in that sort of thing, I would love for you to review and read it.

Now the thank yous: Thank you to **angelloverkk** (review), **Avestia** (review), **catlover123456789**(favorite story and author), **charlee13** (review, favorite story), **Dark Neko 4000 **(favorite story and review), **demonweasel1** (favorite author), **drarry-hell-yes** (favorite story), **dreameralways** (review), **Fantasy-Mania 31** (favorite story), **Hanzo of the Salamander** (favorite story and favorite author, review), (favorite story and review), **Hellenbackagain **(favorite story), jenstarfire (favorite story), killuamaatsume (favorite story), **Knight25** (review), **Luna de Cielo** (review) **lokill77** (favorite story),** mmooch** (review), **Pthor** (favorite story), **S058 **(favorite story), **SailorBoo** (review), **SeaBreeze2Ga **(review, favorite story and author), **Shadowrayven** (favorite story), **Shinnyshin **(review), **Storm Warming **(favorite story and review), **Shouten Tenshi-66** (favorite story), **The Lady of the Land** (favorite story), **The Reader** (review), **Wermops** (favorite story), **Whitestar2000 **(favorite story), **Winter's Empire** (review), **xbeautylovex** (favorite story), and **XGlamorousxGlueX** (favorite story). You guys are the reason I keep writing! Bigger thank you to the reviewers, because while I do appreciate the favorites, the reviews are my pay. Also, a BIG thank you to **SeaBreeze2Ga** for being my most faithful reviewer and being really encouraging. Thank you so much! And, of course, thanks to everyone who has just plain read this story.

Now that that's done, enjoy the next chapter and please, please, please hit that little button at the bottom (the review one, damnit)

* * *

Chapter 16: Rituals, Guilt, and A Visitor

Buffy stared at Angel as he poured over the books with Willow, Giles, and Tara. She hadn't seen him since she was dragged out of heaven, three years ago. She knew she looked older, but happier than she had been the last time he had seen her. But he was the same, except his eyes were older and full of more pain, just as Buffy knew her own were.

"So what's the plan?" she asked.

Angel turned to look at her. "Tara's going to perform the ritual," he said in a voice which meant no arguing. Buffy could see Willow looking anxiously at her, as if waiting for her approval.

"Of course," Buffy said, quietly. "Tara was the only one the Ethros targeted who wasn't affected by it."  
Tara looked at Buffy and there was a kinship in her eyes. Buffy cared about Tara a lot, especially since Tara had been the only one who Buffy could talk to after she was resurrected.

"Tara," came a hollow voice from the doorway. "Can you save him?" Sirius was leaning against the doorway, barely able to stand, but there was a fervor in his eyes.

Buffy watched as Tara turned to look at him. "Yes I can," she said.

"Thank you," Sirius muttered and he shuffled over to collapse on a chair in the kitchen.

"I managed to find an Ethros box," Angel said, in an attempt to diffuse the tension that has suddenly entered the room, pulling out a big wooden box from the huge suitcase he had bought with him.

"A what?" Buffy asked.

"It will contain the demon once we exorcise it," Angel explained.

"Oh," Buffy exclaimed. But isn't the demon in Harry called an Ethnic?"

"No, Buffy," Giles sighed. "An Ethros."

"Giles, why do Big Bads never have fear inspiring names? They either have something stupid like the Master or the Three or something really hard to remember like Glorificus or Kakistos."

"I honestly have no idea, but maybe next time we encounter one which isn't possessing a young boy we can give them an interview," Giles said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "But can we please get back to the problem at hand?"

Buffy huffed, even though she knew he was right. Turning back to Tara, Buffy asked, "Do you need anything?"

"Angel brought the book and the cross, so I have everything I need, but thank you," she said and Buffy nodded. She then walked outside, barely controlling herself. Then she sat down on the porch and cried.

Behind her, she felt someone come up and put there arm around her. It was Angel.

"You okay?" he asked.

She gave a shaky, little laugh. "I thought that my mother's death had stopped affecting me as badly. But all it took was one little comment from that demon, and I became a mess. I couldn't be strong and I couldn't even protect Harry. I'm supposed to be a champion, Angel. But how am I supposed to do that when it's so easy for me to fall apart?"

"You don't always have to look after everyone, Buffy," he told her softly. She turned to look at him.

"Last time, I tried to ignore who I was and what I had to do, my friends were almost killed by crazy resurrecting vampires. The weight of the world is always on my shoulders. I've known that since I was fifteen."

"Yeah," he said, although she could see it pained him to admit it.

"Sometimes I still wish I was a normal girl. I know it's not possible, but even after all these years, I can't help but wonder what if would have been like."

"But then you wouldn't be the amazing woman you are today," he said. She raised her eyes, bright with tears, to him.

"You think I'm amazing?" she whispered so softly, she worried he didn't hear her. Instead he ran his finger down her cheek.

"I've always though you're amazing," he said and Buffy leaned towards him, waiting for their lips to touch. But then a loud noise sounded and they jumped apart. She knew that someone was coming, and she had to ignore that moment of weakness. That moment when she had revealed her blind spots and her dreams and the things that will never ever come true.

They walked back inside and they ignored everyone's curious glances. Thankfully, Tara announced that she was going to start performing the ritual. Willow kissed her girlfriend for luck and everyone gathered in the living room, as Tara armed with a cross prepared herself. She started chanting in Latin and then pressed the cross to Harry's head. The demon awakened with a hiss and it started screaming. Buffy could feel her heart breaking since the noises sounded so much by the boy they all loved, but Tara's voice continued to rise. The demon was scrabbling and clawing and yowling and Tara was commanding power and a strength that you wouldn't think she had by looking at her. The chanting words suddenly stopped and Tara screamed "Get the fuck out of him!". There a was horrible screeching noise that could split eardrums and something was ripped out of Harry.

It vanished into the box Cordelia was holding and she slammed it shut. They all waited with baited breath for Harry's eyes to open. Finally the boy's eyes fluttered and they were not a horrific yellow, but a beautiful soul filled green. Buffy heard body rattling sobs coming from Sirius and all she could do was smile.

* * *

Cold. So cold. It was all he could remember, since he broke Sirius's nose and ran away. Until the blindfold was pulled off and he saw Tara standing off him, a look of bitterness and hate on her usually sweet face. But then she swooped down on him and hugged him tight. She was pulled off by Hermione who looked like a mess with bloodshot eyes and messy hair, and Ron who's face was sheet white. They hugged him until couldn't breath. And then's he's passed through everyone, all asking him how he feels and threatening to squeeze the life out of him. Harry let them, mostly because it feels nice, but also since he was pining for answers. Finally, the only person who hadn't touched him is Sirius and the new guy, who Harry gathered from Spike's description is Angel. And of course Faith, but Harry guessed she knew what he thought when he looked at her: Murderer.

"Harry, I'm so sorry," Sirius gasped. Harry didn't know what to do anymore. He wanted to fall into Sirius's arms, but at the same time, he was still angry about Sirius's betrayal. So he just nodded.

"So you must be Harry?" Angel said.

"Yeah, that's me. Do you want to explain what the bloody hell is going on?" he asked. So Harry was sat down with hot tea and biscuits and they explained everything. Hermione and Ron sat on either side of him, as if to protect him, but he knew they were trying to calm him so he wouldn't have an explosive reaction. In fact, Harry was as far away from an explosive reaction as you could get. Instead, he felt horribly, horribly guilty over the pain he had caused. None of them would tell him what the demon had said or done, but he knew it must have been bad, because of the haunting he saw in his friend's eyes.

"I can't believe I hurt you so badly," he said to all of them and watched in surprise as they all rolled their eyes and sighed.

"Honestly, you stupid boy. Heroes always feel guilty, even when it's not their fault. Idiots," Anya told him.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but another unknown voice started speaking first. "She's got a point," it said in an Irish brogue. "Angel didn't stop feeling like a giant blooming bag of guilt for a long time after my death. Ain't that right, Princess?"

Harry turned around to see a slight, brunette man dressed in clothes that resembled Xander's. He had a joking twinkle in his eye. Harry heard Cordelia's intake of breath and glanced at her. Her face was white and for the first time, she seemed to have lost her boldness.

"Doyle?" she whispered.

"Hello, Princess. How have you been?" he said, smiling and Harry watched as Cordelia launched herself into his arms.

* * *

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